


In My Dreams I Rocked and Ruled the Wonderland

by ExhoLox



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Creativitwins, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders Angst, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders Needs a Hug, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders-centric, Gen, Insecure Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Not done by the other sides, Post-Episode: Putting Others First - Selfishness v. Selflessness Redux | Sanders Sides, Sympathetic Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, The Imagination Room (Sanders Sides), The other sides are here but they don't make frequent appearances, the others sides do show up but they aren't the main focus, tw abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:07:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 21,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25120636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ExhoLox/pseuds/ExhoLox
Summary: After the events of POF:Redux Roman decides to take drastic measures to try and fix the problem. Unfortunately a certain potty-mouthed duke decided to tag along with him.-Okay so this is going to be my first multichapted Sanders Sides fic so if this is bad I sincerely apologize.This fic will also be cross-posted on my Sanders Sides blog on tumblr @VocaVoki. You can also message me there if you feel there are any trigger warnings that need to be added to this fic.
Relationships: Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders
Comments: 46
Kudos: 170





	1. Hallelujah

**Author's Note:**

> _  
> Somedays I don't think my mama  
> Thinks I'm good enough to be a superstar  
> But one day I will show her  
> I'm a diamond in the rough, I'll be a superstar  
> _

Roman paced back and forth in his room. Janus’s words bouncing around in his mind like an echo.

_“Thank God for the mustache or else I wouldn’t be able to tell who the evil twin was.”_

That stupid, slimey, and selfish snake! Who was he to just waltz up and demand a seat at the table? And not only did he demand, he got it, and managed to convince Patton of his evil agenda! Patton had made his morals clear! It was his job! They couldn’t shift in the span of an hour! That wasn’t how it was supposed to work!

Roman glared the notes surrounding the mirror. On the left were things that were considered good like _‘Not being selfish, helping people, being there for your friends.’_ and on the right things like _‘Being a bother, being too uncaring, being too conceited and prideful.’_ Wait a second…

Roman grabbed the last note. _‘Being too conceited and prideful.’_ On god. That’s what he was doing. He was being too damn arrogant and he couldn’t see past his own bullshit.

_“ **You’re just upset you’ll never be them,”**_ His reflection noted.

Roman’s eyes ushered with tears and his reflection shifted into Logan.

**_“That pride blinds you from reality. It’s why you’re so stupid.”_ **

It shifted into Remus, ** _“You’ll never be the good guy. Hell, I’m the supposed ‘bad guy’ and I’m not as much as an asshole as you.”_**

Virgil. ** _“You’re so scared and insecure. What kind of prince are you? You’ll never be anything. Accept it.”_**

**_“You’re wasting my time. I try so hard but you never understand, kiddo,”_ ** Reflection Patton said, ** _“You can’t understand what it means to be good and at this rate you never will.”_**

And finally Janus. Reflection Janus looked him over as if he were observing him. He then proceeded to take off his glove.

**_“You’re a disappointment to everyone. You’re so wrapped up in your own ego and pride that you just discard what Thomas wants. Have you ever thought that maybe you’re not the good guy? Of course you haven’t! You’re just a good for nothing imitation of a real hero. Run along now and stay out of our way. We’re clearly more equipped at doing what’s best for Thomas than you are.”_ **

The reflections shifted through the different sides again and again until finally it landed on Thomas.

Reflection Thomas looked down at the prince who was now sobbing on the floor.

The Reflection merely scoffed and looked away from him, **_“And to think I ever called you a prince.”_**

It continued everywhere he went. Anything with a slightly reflective surface had one of the sides in it degrading Roman and laying out his deepest insecurities. Whenever the T.V screen was off in the living room he would see Logan and Patton criticizing him over everything he did.

**_‘Do you really think you look good in that? Gee, Roman I knew you were stupid but you actually think you look good? Disgraceful.’_ **

**_‘Did you ever stop and think that maybe you’re the bad guy, kiddo? Sure I even call you kiddo anymore? You’re not really a part of this family, you’re more like a parasite that feeds off the attention we give you.’_ **

The middle of the coffee table was made of glass and often Virgil, Remus, and Janus would be there.

_**‘You’ll never be a real hero. You’re too mean and self-centered. Real heroes and humble and don’t feed off others like a parasite.’** _

_**‘Honestly Ro-Ro Janus was right. Even I can’t tell which one of us is supposed to be the evil twin.’** _

_**‘Do you honestly think you’re important? Remus can take over creative and we can split the rest of your duties amongst ourselves. You’re so easy to replace.’** _

But mirrors were the worst. Whenever Roman looked into the vanity he would see Thomas there, but he wouldn’t say anything. He’d just look at Roman with a disapproving glare and look away like Roman was a misbehaving child and he was throwing a tantrum in the store.

Sometimes Roman would try to say he was sorry but this only seemed to anger Thomas. His brows would furrow and it looked like he was on the verge of just telling Roman off and suggesting he duck out.

Ducking out? God that sounded so good. He would stop bothering the others and wouldn’t get in the way with his stupid fantasy nonsense.

Roman smiled. He knew exactly what to do.


	2. Broadway, Here I Come

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> -  
> And now I'm fallin', baby  
> Through the sky, through the sky  
> And I'm fallin', baby through the sky  
> It's my callin', baby  
> Don't you cry, don't you cry  
> And I'm fallin' down through the sky  
> -

The mirror in front of him was breathtaking.

Rubies, sapphires, diamonds, and all types of precious jewels decorated the gold frame of the mirror. It loomed over Roman standing at a good twelve feet and small paintings decorating it gave it an even more impressive look, but what was really impressive was its purpose. 

The mirror was actually a gateway into the imagination, well, a part of the imagination. He made it so he could confront his issues head on. His stupid pride, his stupid fantasies, and anything else he knew the others didn’t like. He didn’t exactly know how those issues would manifest themselves. Perhaps some great beast Roman would have to overpower or perhaps a giant maze that in order to navigate he had to leave the worst parts of himself behind and start anew. 

Whatever it was he knew he could face it. He had to. With his sword in his hand and all the necessities packed Roman stepped in.  
_____________________________________________________________________

Falling. Down and down and down into a seemingly eternal darkness. Where was he going? When would he stop?

He had been falling for Zeus knows how long. There was nothing but a void around him and he couldn’t quite understand what problem this was meant to represent. 

Suddenly a white light appeared below him and-oh god he was getting closer to it that’s not good.

Roman frantically looked around but there was nowhere to go but down. Oh god he didn’t know if that light was solid or not-could he die in here?

“HEY ROMAN!”

Before he could question who the voice was coming from an arm wrapped around him and his fall slowly started to descend into a float.

“Remus!” Roman nearly screeched, “What on Earth are you doing here?” 

Remus with an umbrella made of deflated lungs rolled his eyes, “Saving you, duh? Now can you tell me what that gaudy mirror was doing there?”

Roman blinked, “How did you know about that? How did you even get in here?”

“Well one, we share a room, Ro-Bro. It’s kinda not very hard to see the huge-ass mirror that suddenly showed up and secondly, it was made by creativity.”

Roman shook his head, “No no it was made by me! No other side should be able to get through!”

Remus smiled his creepy horror movie smile, “The others can’t but I can because technically I’m still creativity. It’s the whole reason why we share a bedroom, why we share the imagination, Hell, even why we’re twins. We’re two halves of the same whole. The two cheeks of a whole ass!”

Roman groaned. This was going to be a long day.  
_____________________________________________________________________

When they finally passed through the light it looked a lot like Roman’s usual kingdom in the imagination only a bit...strange?

The normally jovial people walking still seemed happy but their smiles seemed unreal. It was like someone had stretched the corners of their mouth in order to make their smiles bigger. The big disney style castle was still there but it lacked it’s usual finesse. It seemed a lot more dilapidated and the towers curved in unnatural ways.   
Remus took a look around, “Well this place sure is different. Say how about you add some people bleeding from their eyeballs and streets filled with blood.”

Roman shook his head, “No, not now, not ever. We need to focus on the tasks at hand.”

Remus raised an eyebrow, “Tasks? What tasks are you talking about.”

Roman unsheathed his sword, “You need to get out of this place and mine is my business.”

Remus groaned, “Oh come on Prince Armpit Stink! Why can’t let you let me have fun too! Sibling bonding time and all that jazz!”

“Excuse me but it’s my side of the imagination!,” Roman stomped his foot to emphasize his point, “We both agreed that we wouldn’t invade each other’s spaces. There is a clear line and shouldn’t be crossed.”

Remus’s smile dropped, “Do I look stupid, Roman?” He gestured to the castle, “Something’s up with you and from that look of it that something’s not good. Just stop being a brat and tell me what’s wrong.”

Roman stomped his foot again, the ground under him cracked, “I said leave.”

Remus smirked, “Make me.” 

And so Roman did.


	3. Intermission/Bring Him Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> -  
> God on high  
> Hear my prayer  
> In my need  
> You have always been there  
> He is young  
> He's afraid  
> Let him rest  
> Heaven blessed.  
> Bring him home  
> Bring him home  
> Bring him home.  
> -

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Very brief fight scene

Remus barely had time to register the sword about to decapitate him.

“Woah, woah, woah!” He yelled as he stumbled, “What’s gotten into you!”

Roman didn’t answer. He only swung at Remus again and managed to tear the sash he was wearing.

Remus quickly mourned the loss of his sash before summoning his morning-star. He swung the weapon at Roman hitting him in the side. Roman let out surprised “oof” and fell to the ground. Remus decided to take advantage of this and with one quick swing of the morning-star Roman was out.

______________________________________________________________________

Virgil loved his family. He really did.

But God could they be tiresome.

After the events of the latest episode tensions were through the roof. Patton was stress baking to Hell and Virgil had caught tears running down face a couple of times, Logan was sulky and hadn’t come out of his room insisting that “With the latest changes I need time to work out new plans to help everyone adjust.”, and Janus was staying in his room trying to make sense of now technically being a “light side”. And that wasn’t even mentioning the twins. Speaking of...

“Have you seen Roman? Like at all?”

Patton tilted his head, “Whaddya mean?”

Virgil hopped onto the counter top, “I mean, I haven’t seen him in a while. He hasn’t come to breakfast, lunch, or dinner for the past week and I haven’t seen him around anywhere else.”

Patton turned back to mixing the cake batter, “Well y’know how he gets sometimes. Especially after what happened. He just needs time.”

Virgil furrowed his eyebrows, “Yeah, but usually his pity parties don’t last this long. Maybe someone should go check on him?”

Patton nodded, “Yeah that’s probably a good idea.” He set the bowl down and looked at it, “But I’m busy with this. You think you’ll be okay with going alone?”

Virgil shrugged, “I can just go grab Logan. I’ll be fine, Padre.”

“Well if you say so kiddo,” and with that Virgil was gone.

\---

“Roman everyone’s worried about you, please, just open the door.”

Logan rolled his eyes, “You’ve been saying that over and over again for the past five minutes. I don’t think it’s going to work.”

Virgil snappily turned to him, “Well what’s your great genius idea, Einstein?”

Logan only rolled his eyes again and knocked on the door. No response. He looked a little annoyed and knocked but there was still no response. Another knock and still nothing happened.

Virgil straightened his posture, “You’ve been knocking over and over again. I don’t think it’s going to work.”

“Well why don’t we just go in!” Logan snapped, “Standing here is clearly doing nothing. We’ll get better results if we just go in.”

“Go in? Seriously?” Virgil shook his head in disbelief, “You know we don’t just barge into each other’s rooms like that, Lo! How would you feel if we just interrupted you during one of nerdy nerd things sessions or whatever.”

“Yeah but this,” Logan gestured to Roman’s door, “This is different. Roman has displayed behavior that is highly concerning!”

Virgil clapped his hands, “Congratulations Captain Obvious you figured out why we’re here.”

“I-” Logan took a deep breath, “Virgil we both know what Roman does when he feels distressed. He’ll spend most of his time in his room but he still comes out of it. He still comes to family movie nights and he answers us when we check up on him. Or should I say simply, he still talks to us. Right now he’s completely shutting us out. It’s almost like he’s-”

“Ducking out,” Virgil finished for him, shocked. Roman? Ducking out? No way that would happen. Roman knew how important he was and he was not afraid to boast about it. So why in the world would he duck out?

Virgil wasted no time in going to turn the door knob only to find it locked.  _ ‘Are you serious?’  _ Logan stopped him from turning the knob again and showed him his lockpick.

Virgil raised an eyebrow, “You just carry that around with you.”

Logan tilted his head, “You don’t?”

When Logan finally got the door unlocked they looked to see Roman’s room still intact but missing a certain prince. Instead what they found was a mirror of grandiose size.

“What the hell is that?” Virgil asked not particularly to anyone.

Logan stepped closer to it, “It appears to be a mirror but I sense there is some double meaning to it.” The frame of the mirror was normal enough, well, normal enough for someone as extravagant as Roman. It was incredibly ornate and it was clear that Roman had spent some time designing it, but it was the mirror itself that Logan was partially interested in.

From far away it looked like any old mirror but as he stepped closer to it he noticed something that was off with it. For one his reflection in it looked upset. Like the reflection was judging his every move and was disappointed with what it saw.

_**“Why are you here?”**_ Mirror Logan asked.

Virgil froze, “What do you mean, Lo?”

“That wasn’t me,” Logan said as he stepped back from the mirror.

Mirror Logan didn’t follow the motion instead opting to get closer, **_“Why do you even bother putting in your input? It’s not like they’ll listen to you.”_**

“We need to get out of here,” Logan said as he straightened up.

“B-But what about Roman! We still haven’t found him!” Virgil spluttered but Logan didn’t bother listening.

“We need to get out of here now. I have some questions that need answering,” Logan as he dragged Virgil out.

______________________________________________________________________

“A mirror you say? Of course Remus has one in his room, it’s a mirror,” Janus said as he gave Logan and Virgil a cup of tea.

Logan hesitantly accepted the cup, “Do you know if it had any other uses besides just being a mirror?”

“Well for the most part Remus used it as a mirror, but it was also a gateway to the imagination, albeit he didn’t travel through it much,” Janus informed.

Virgil set the tea down on the table, “Wait, so we’re going to have to go into the imagination?”

Janus scoffed, “Oh yes Virgil, because we can definitely go into the imagination whenever we please. It’s not like we need the twins’ permission or anything.”

Logan sipped his tea, “Then we can just go get Remus, correct?”

Janus looked at him with a sad look, “We can’t. Both of them are in the imagination at the moment. We’ll just have to wait for one of them to get back.”

Virgil huffed, “Well then I guess we’re playing the waiting game.”


	4. If I Dare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> -  
> I don't want your pity, I won't use your little scraps  
> I don't build my cities with what could get taken back  
> I don't need permission to rise up when it hurts  
> You don't have to listen, but you'll hear me  
> Mark my words  
> -

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Cursing, Blood and slight gore mention  
> Note: Sorry if the formatting looks weird. I don't know what happened with this chapter specifically but it was just being really wonky.

Roman fluttered his eyes open, sunlight momentarily blinding him as he tried to get his bearings. Where was he and why was the floor so slimy? 

“Remus!” Roman yelped and he scrambled away from the makeshift bed made of...oh that was just vile. 

“Roman!” Remus called back, “Do you like the bed? I figured since you were going to be playing the role of Sleeping Beauty I oughta make you comfortable!”

Roman poofed away the blood on his outfit, “Did you have to make it out of hearts and blood, though?”

Remus waved his concerns away, “Trust me it was necessary. I wanted to relax you before I give you the news.”

Roman quirked an eyebrow, “News? Good or bad?” Was this going to be some sort of trick?

Remus signed, “It’s bad and not the fun sexy kind. I’m afraid brother dear that I can’t get out.”

Roman stood there for a moment and then laughed, “Good one Remus!” He clapped his brother on the shoulder, “You really had me there for a moment! Now you better be on your way.”

Remus only looked at him uncharacteristically somberly.

Roman’s face dropped, “You’re being serious aren’t you.”

“As much as I hate to say it, yep, I'm stuck here,” Remus picked up a heart from the makeshift bed and took a bite out of it, “I tried sinking out but nothing happened. It’s like something’s blocking me from being able to get out. Hey maybe it’ll work for you!”

Roman attempted to sink out but nothing happened.

‘Shit.’ Roman thought to himself. ‘This was not good, not good at all. This was supposed to be a journey of self-improvement but now it was being interrupted. He needed to get Remus out of here but how?’

Suddenly it clicked for him, “The portal! How could we forget the portal in the castle!”

Remus signed, “Roman that portal is what landed us in this mess in the first place. Not saying that I don’t like mess, I just don’t like messes with you.”

Roman only smiled giddily, “Not that portal!” He gestured to the castle in the distance, “The gateway between the Imagination and the Mind Palace is located in the throne room! If we can get to the palace we both should be able to cross back into the mind palace!”

“Okay so then you can just teleport us there!” Remus said expectantly.

Roman laughed nervously, “Not exactly.”

“Not exactly?” Remus frowned, “Roman what kind of game are you playing right now? It’s your side of the imagination! You have complete control of this place! Teleport us there right **N̶̬̰̄Ọ̵͍̈́W̵͇̏̃!** ”

Roman covered his ears before shakily uncovering them once Remus calmed down, “First of all, please don’t ever do that again. It feels like someone just took a baseball bat to both of my eardrums. Second of all, I set some certain rules for myself for my ‘task’, one of them was no teleportation.”

Remus groaned and scratched at his face. “Roman!” He whined, “You’re such an idiot!”

Roman looked down at his feet sheepishly, “I know.”

Remus stopped scratching at his face. ‘Was Roman being insecure? No no no, he would never be that vulnerable in front of another side, nonetheless him!’

Remus coughed, “Well that slightly concerning sentence out of the way, we have a castle we need to get going to.”

________________________________________________________________

“Are we there yet?”

“No.”

“Now?”

“Still no.”

“...”

“...”

“Are we-”

**“Remus!”** Roman eyes glowed red, **“Listen to right now! This is my court so it’s my rules so rule number one! Listen to me! When I say we’re not there yet. We. Are. Not. There!”**

His voice boomed and the trees around them shook. ‘I thought that couldn’t happen again?’ Roman questioned himself.

Remus looked taken aback but then smiled, “I didn’t know your group could do that. I thought only the dark sides could do that? Apparently I was wrong! Ha! What a pleasant surprise! Tell me Roman how long have you been able to do the freaky voice thing?”

Roman hyperventilated, “No no no no no no!” He clutched his hair, “I shouldn't be able to do that! I made sure that I-”

Remus simply laughed and put both hands on Roman’s shoulders, “Ah don’t worry Roman it’s a family trait. It just means we’re more alike than I thou-SHIT!”

Roman’s fist hit him square in the face and the force of it threw him onto the ground. 'Oh yeah my nose is definitely broken.’ He thought.

“I am nothing like you!” Roman shouted, face almost beet red, “The only thing we have in common is our fucking faces you good for nothing twat! I refuse to believe what that stupid, slimey, and manipulative snake told me!” His fist was bleeding and his breath was ragged.

Suddenly he dropped to his knees and let out a choked sob, “I’m Thomas hero. I have to be.”

Remus stared at the sight in front of him. On one hand Roman had just nearly punched his brains out, but on other hand, this was his brother. 

Remus hesitantly put a hand on Roman’s shoulder. The other twin only flinched slightly, not bothering to push the hand away. What was he supposed to do now? He wasn’t good at the whole ‘caring for others thing’.

“Well yeah you’re the hero, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be a hero and be a little bit like me,” He suggested.

Roman shook his head, tears sliding down his face, “You know that’s not true Remus. We were split for a reason. I’m supposed to be good and you’re to be bad. It’s why I’m the hero and you’re the bad guy.”

Remus pulled him to his feet, “That’s bullshit and you know it!”

“Whatever Remus!” Roman said as he pushed him away, “Lets just get on with this so we don’t have to see each other ever again. It’s not like I need you anyway.”

Remus scoffed, “Fine then. Put on your fearless and unbothered hero persona and ignore the obvious truth in front of you. But you know what Roman?”

“What,” Roman spat.

Remus gripped the collar of his shirt, “You may want to keep your task vague as shit, but I won’t. My task is making you confront your goddamn issues and deal with them like an adult. You can’t keep going on with this fairytale ‘Someday my prince will come’ nonsense. It’s time to grow up.”

Roman pushed Remus off him again, “It’s funny you say that because that was my goal before you decided to show up.”

Remus glared at him, “And you’ve definitely been doing a great job so far. But now that I know we have similar goals,” He outstretched his hand, “We work together on this task, quest, or whatever you call it together whether you like or not. I don’t care how you feel about me, Janus, or your stupid morals. You are going to face the ugly side of yourself whether you like it or not. Clear?”

Roman frowned at him before reluctantly shaking his hand, “Crystal.”


	5. You've Got a Friend (Fiend) In Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> -  
> You've got a friend in me  
> You've got a friend in me  
> When the road looks rough ahead  
> And you're miles and miles  
> From your nice warm bed  
> You just remember what your old pal said  
> Boy, you've got a friend in me  
> Yeah, you've got a friend in me  
> -

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Self-Deprecaition

Roman dragged his feet across the forest floor. God why did he have to go and make the forest so big? They had started their journey around noon and despite it being sunset they were only about one-fourth of the way to the castle. And despite the fact that Roman created the place he found himself lost many times when the roof of the forest obscured the view of the castle.

Remus flopped onto the ground, “Can we take a break already? My feet hurt. Like a bunch of mini dominatrixes are hitting them with spike covered whips.”

Roman stopped walking and rolled his eyes, “The more time we spend walking the less time you’re in here. Besides the others are probably worried about me-”

Remus picked up his head and glared at his brother.

“I mean us, sorry. But anyways we still have a long way to go,” Roman said as he started walking again.

Remus only groaned and stood up, “Can we atleast stop at some landmark or something? We don’t even have to be there long.”

Roman huffed but he gave in, “There’s a pond about a mile from here. When we get there we can rest for an hour or so. Deal?”

Remus nodded and ran so he catch up to him, “Deal.”

They fell into an almost comfortable silence. Tension was still lingering from the argument and both twins knew they were gonna have to talk about the elephant in the room sooner or later. Unfortunately for them the elephant decided that time would be now.

“Um Roman I thought you said the pond was a mile away?” Remus asked his brother.

Roman quirked an eyebrow, “I did. Is there something wrong?”

Remus pointed him to the direction of...the pond.

“Huh?” Roman could have swore the pond was way farther than this. “Maybe I forgot where I put it?” He guessed.

“Well it doesn’t matter now!” And Remus took off running towards it all of his signs of lethargy disappearing.

Roman rushed after him, “Remus slow down!”

Remus only laughed, “There’s no time to slow down when you’re having fun!” And with a laugh almost like shriek he cannon-balled into the pond.

Roman couldn’t help but laugh. Despite their fights and near constant arguing. He couldn’t deny he missed these moments when they were younger. When there was no good or bad creativity, the only thing they had to worry about was how much fun they were going to have that day. 

Roman sat down and watched his reflection in the water. Deep down inside he wished he and his brother could get along. Sometimes there were nights where he was kept awake by constant questions plaguing his mind.  _ ‘Why couldn’t they get along?’ ‘Why did he have to be good guy and Remus the bad guy?’ ‘Was he truly a hero?’ ‘Did he need to be the hero to still be valuable?’ _

Roman sighed. There was no use in having an existential crisis right now. He needed to get himself together so he and Remus could get back to the mind palace and everything could go back to normal.

“Only Remus needs to go back.”

Roman’s head snapped to Remus, but he was still splashing around in the pond and it seemed like he didn’t hear the voice. So where did that voice from? And why did it sound like him?

“Look down idiot.”

Roman looked down at the pond and saw his reflection. Although, it wasn’t reflecting what he was doing? Reflection him looked displeased, like someone had done him wrong and he couldn’t get over it.

The reflection went from displeased to angry, “You’re the one that did me wrong! Infact, you’re doing me, yourself, and Remus wrong! You wouldn’t be so sad and mopey if you just realized that you’re not needed. If you just accepted the fact you can be easily replaced you’ll do everyone a favour and finally be the hero you were destined to be!” 

“You’re wrong. I’m creativity for Apollo’s sake. Who else could fulfill that role?” Roman whispered under his breath.

The reflection rolled his eyes, “Remus. He’s creativity, too.” Reflection him laughed, “Wow. You’re not even special enough to have a purpose to yourself! Isn’t that just sad.”

Roman shoulders slumped and reflection him gave him a look of pity, “Hey listen. It’s a fact but you just have to accept it. Think on the brightside! The others won’t be annoyed by you anymore and they’ll be able to focus more time on Thomas than your stupid need for attention.”

The reflection lifted itself out of the water, “Remus will replace you and he’ll finally find his place among the others. How could you deprive him of the opportunity to finally be loved? Now’s not the time to be selfish. Get Remus out and stay here, forever.”

Remus finally took note of the new entity talking to Roman, “Uhh Ro-Bro? Who the Hell is that? And why is he talking about me?”

Roman felt tears slide down his face, “Are you sure about this? The others might not take me being replaced by Remus well. How can you be sure they’ll be fine with this?”

The reflection laughed, it was cold and empty, “They accepted Janus easily enough. They can do the same for Re-”

The reflection was interrupted by Remus getting out of the pond and hitting it in the head with his morningstar. Roman backed away a couple of feet as Remus started bashing the thing’s body until the entity disappeared into thin air.

Remus locked eyes with Roman, “You know when people want to confront their issues they usually go see a therapist. You want me to go and see if I go get the Emile guy once this is all over? Also what was that nonsense about me replacing you?”

Roman looked down in shame, “We’re both creativity, Remus. Who's to say that you can’t just replace me. I’ve been doing everything wrong Re, maybe it’s time for a better equipped person to take the reigns.”

“Roman, you do realize how ridiculous you sound right?” Remus sat down across from his brother, “You’re not just creativity. You’re pride, ego, and romance. Those aren’t just roles I’m exactly suited for. I’m a stinky garbage man, it’s not my thing.”

Roman put on a fake smile, “Well you can just learn to be me! Just like acting! It’s an easy role y’know. A stupid dumb prince who’s too prideful to realize that no one really loves him and that he has never been needed and never will be!”

Remus held Roman’s shoulders in an iron tight grip, “Listen here, Roman. Are we similar? Yeah. Are we interchangeable? Absolutely not. You and I are both creativity, yes, but we’ve grown past that. When we first split were we interchangeable? Almost, but it’s been a long time since then Roman. We’ve both grown up and become so much more since the split.”

Remus now had tears brimming his eyes, “I get it. Sometimes you feel like you’re not needed and everyone would be better off without you, but you have to realize that you are needed and loved. You’re a prince for God’s sake! Who doesn’t love a prince?”

Roman frowned and tears were still running down his face, “What if the others decide that I’m not needed?”

Remus shook his head, “For starters, they would never do that. Without you Thomas wouldn’t be where he is today. I mean from what I’ve gathered you’re putting yourself through a Hercules-esque challenge just so you can become the person you think they want you to be. It’s kind of hard not to like such an extreme people-pleaser such as yourself. And if in the one in a nevergonnahappen-ion chance they do that,” He held up his morningstar, “They’ll realize their error soon enough.”

Roman stood up, face unreadable, but Remus could see the small smile on his face, “Well I guess you’re right. I was being a touch dramatic there.”

Remus smiled and stood up too, “Glad you realized. Now come on, we have an adventure that we need to continue.”


	6. Intermission/The Seraph

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> -  
> The Angel leads me onward, he watches as I sleep  
> The Angel thinks I've got some kind of soul to keep  
> I feel him rest his Seraph head, warm, against my chest  
> Don't know why it should be, but by the Angel, I am blessed  
> -

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No warnings currently but if you feel some are needed let me know.  
> Sorry for any typos.

Breakfast this morning was different to say the least.

Patton had to make breakfast all on his own since Roman was gone and they could all taste the difference. Breakfast was good and all, but it lacked it’s familiar pizzazz. Usually breakfast would give Virgil, Logan, and Patton the energy to go through the day and put a little more prep in their step. Now it just seemed like a menial task. Wake up, go downstairs, eat breakfast, and leave.

“Do you think Roman is ever gonna come back?” Virgil asked timidly, “We can’t reach him so what if he decided he's better off staying in the imagination? What if he decided he's better off without us.”

Patton frowned, “Kiddo, Roman would never do that. He knows that we lov-” Patton stopped himself. Did Roman really know that they loved him? He saw how Roman reacted to both him and Janus saying that to him. Had he failed Roman that much? That he couldn’t even trust him to do the most effortless task of loving him?

“Roman would never do that,” Virgil mocked, “Well he just kinda did popstar. He just did a more dramatic version of ducking out and it doesn’t look like he’s coming back!”

Logan dropped his fork, “Actually Virgil, Roman hasn’t ducked out. At least not completely. Thomas is still working on new content albeit with some struggle and he hasn’t lost most of his motivation. Roman’s not currently here physically, but his essence so to say still remains. If Roman decides to duck out we’ll know immediately because of any significant and negative changes in Thomas’s behavior.”

Patton stared at him blankly, “Significant changes? Logan you said it yourself. Thomas has been struggling with projects and being motivated. Wouldn’t that count as a significant change?”

“Yes and no. When Virgil ducked out Thomas wasn’t able to feel anything relating to anxiety and he was unable to summon Virgil. We don’t know if Thomas can still summon Roman at this point but it’s highly unlikely that he even if he could Roman would come. Secondly, Thomas still is feeling the effects of creativity. There is no absence of creative drive; it's just muted in a sense.”

“Well then what are we supposed to do? Thomas can’t live like this forever,” Virgil said nervously picking at his pancakes with his fork.

Logan sighed, “Well like you said yesterday. We’ll just have to play the waiting game. While I do believe Roman will come back, especially with Remus’s presence in the imagination, I can’t guess when he'll come back. We only have limited information.”

Virgil’s didn't seem satisfied but he didn't openly argue. Then he realized something, "So...that mirror?"

Logan scrunched his face. Patton looked back and forth between them, “Um kiddos what mirror?”

Logan waved him off, “It’s nothing we should be concerned about.”

“Are you sure?” Patton asked sensing the obvious lie.

Logan nodded regaining his composure, “I’m sure of it Patton.”

“Well if you say so,” Patton didn’t believe him. It wasn’t that hard to tell when Logan didn’t want to confront his emotions, but he decided not to press. Based on recent events his input wasn’t exactly the most helpful. “Well I’m going to check on Janus. You guys sure there’s nothing going on?”

Logan nodded solemnly, clearly not in the mood to talk anymore. Virgil glared at him but didn't say whatever was on his mind.

Patton shifted uncomfortably, “Okay then. I’ll see you later.” And with that he sunk out.

____________________________________________________________________________

Janus’s room was really extra; he must have gotten some inspiration from Roman. The room had a strong black and gold motif and it looked like a combination of a really rich person’s bedroom and a therapist's office. Patton quickly spotted Janus sitting on an ottoman in front of his bed with his head down.

“Hey Janus! How ya doing?” Patton asked with a little too much vigor.

Janus whipped his head up clearly not expecting a visitor. His shoulders were hunched and it looked like he was...crying?

Janus wiped the tears from his eyes, “I’m absolutely fine Patton. Totally not freaking out or anything.”

Patton frowned with worry. It looked like everyone in the mindscape was in some sort of distress. He walked over to where Janus was and sat on the ottoman.

“I’m guessing you’re asking if I have any answers to the 'Roman is gone' problem? Because I don’t have any” Janus said in a defeated tone.

Patton smiled sadly, “No kiddo. I’m here to ask if you’re alright. You didn’t show up to breakfast and judging by your expression I was right to come.”

Janus laughed humorlessly, “It’s pathetic right? I try to do something good for Thomas and end up causing trouble.” He frowned again, “What was I thinking saying that Roman? I should have been smarter. I know he has self-esteem issues and all that.”

Patton put a hand on his shoulder, “This isn’t your fault. In the end it was Roman’s decision to leave for a little bit. You both were angry and weren’t thinking straight, besides, I think there’s a lot more going on with him,” Patton paused, “What were saying about self-esteem issues.”

Janus signed, “You know I can tell when sides lie to others? Patton nodded. "Well I can also tell when they lie to themselves.Everyone does it to some extent but Roman and you do it the most so I notice it more,” Patton went to object but Janus raised a hand, “Don’t lie Patton. We both know about your repression problem. Anyways, from what I’ve observed it seems like Roman doesn’t really believe us when we compliment him. The latest events only proved my point.”

Patton looked down sadly, “Yeah, they did. But I’m sure when Roman comes back we can fix this. We can’t help Thomas if we can’t even help ourselves, right?”

Janus nodded, “Right.”

Patton looked up at him and beamed, “Well then I guess when Roman gets back we can all have a family discussion and get everything out in the open. I can’t guarantee it’ll be easy, but it’s a start.”

A small smile crossed Janus’s face, “Yeah, it’s a start. Thanks Patton.”

“You’re welcome,” Patton patted his back and stood up, “Hey Janus?”

Janus wiped a small tear away from his face, “Yeah?”

“If you ever need to talk I’m here whenever, bud,” And with that he sunk out. 


	7. In My House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> -  
> You shameless good-for-nothing  
> You vile, shameless girl  
> In my house  
> In my house  
> A nice girl! Very nice!
> 
> You dirty nasty wench of a thing  
> Now don’t you say one word  
> In my house  
> In my house  
> Horrid girl, hussy!  
> -

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warnings: Abuse (not done by any of the sides dw), Minor violence, daddy issues????, and manipulative language.  
> This chapter is a doozy wooooo. I also have some stuff to say at the end so there's that.

_ ‘The moon seems different tonight.’ _ Roman thought to himself,  _ ‘Must be one of the wonderland-esque changes the imagination is going through.’ _

The twins had walked for a couple of more hours after defeating the pool monster as Roman dubbed it before deciding to stop for the night. Roman wanted to object but Remus had insisted that he probably needed time to process what had happened. 

Truth be told Roman didn’t want to deal with what happened at all and he didn’t want Remus to have to deal with it either. Remus’s speech helped him realize he did have a place among the others, but it didn’t answer his biggest question. Roman pouted, why did this have to be so complicated?

“Woah,” Remus chuckled, “Something must be on your mind judging by the face you’re making. Care to share all the juicy details?”

“What did Virgil say about saying juicy like that,” Roman scolded but then sighed, “But yeah. There has been a certain question on my mind.”

Remus propped his head on his hands, “Well why don’t you share with the class?”

Roman took a deep breath, “Do I need to be a hero?”

At first Remus laughed, but then he noticed Roman wasn’t joking, “Are you serious Roman? Please tell you aren’t going to go on to one of your dramatic self-deprecating monologues again. I can only use Janus’s superb speech making skills so rarely. I’m not good at sappy nonsense.”

Roman shook his head, “Not quite.” He took his katana out of its sheath and looked at it almost in disgust, “All my life I’ve convinced myself that I have to be picture-perfect in order to my jobs to the fullest and be the best I can be. Whenever I notice I haven’t been positively perfect I raise the bar higher for myself and tell myself that reaching that bar will make me perfect.”

“Does it work?” Remus asked.

Roman let out a sad chuckle and dropped the katana, “If it did we wouldn’t be here right now. But anyways, I had this realization. It was when you showed and introduced yourself to Thomas. When you were there everyone was...disturbed by you to say the least, but when I came back they didn’t react that way at all. They didn’t treat me like I could become like you at any second. I wasn’t a ticking time bomb, but that’s what I feel like I am! Like if I’m not perfect I’ll explode and become some terrible monster!”

Roman stood up and moved his hands around a bit before he let them fall to his side, “But now I’m wondering if that’s true or not.”

Remus quirked an eyebrow, “Roman we’ve over this. We cannot become each other. We’re two separate sides, remember?”

Roman clasped his hands together, “All the other sides have made mistakes in some shape or form and they’re still loved despite those mistakes. Even though they have flaws they’re still valued as important parts of Thomas' mind, but for the longest time I thought the rules were different for me. I’m based on the idea of a perfect and kind of old-fashioned prince. The perfect hero, never mean or cruel and always looking his best in wardrobe and in conversation. But what if this idea that I’m the “Classic Perfect Disney Prince” isn’t benefiting me?”

“I hold myself to these standards that keep growing and growing every single day but I know deep down I can never reach them! What if I stop holding myself back? What if I stop being the perfect hero but just be...myself?” Roman finished and he looked to Remus for any comments.

Remus stood there shocked, “You. Roman “Princey” Creativity Sanders not being the hero anymore?” Remus walked over to Roman and gripped him by the shoulders, “Roman I’m the bad guy and you’re the hero. That’s how it’s supposed to be forever. No questions about it.”

“Did you miss the entire point of that speech?” Roman questioned angrily.

Remus’s eyes darkened, “Listen Roman. It’s the part you have to play for the sake of Thomas, so whether you like it or not-”

Roman pushed Remus off of him, “It’s not that! What I’m trying to say is that I can be the hero but be flawed! Because right now trying to be the perfect hero doesn’t benefit Thomas in any way! My black and white old-fashioned morals are holding back more serious questions from being asked and addressed properly! For example, why is Janus automatically the villain to me? Is it because those who work for themselves are usually depicted as being the villains or needing to change? It’s either I stop holding myself to these impossible standards or I  **duck out!** ” 

Roman’s eyes glowed red again and Remus was pushed back several feet.

“Remus!” As Roman began to run over to check on him he heard a familiar voice.

“Can’t say I expected that.” 

Roman quickly turned around, hand at the handle of his katana, only to be faced with...Quixote?  _ ‘What was he doing here?’ _ He thought to himself. 

The man in front was almost an exact replica of him save from some noticeable differences. Instead of the usual white Quixote wore a light pastel pink. His sash and eyes were a baby blue and his boots and little accessories on his uniform were a golden pearl color. To finish off the ensemble he wore a gold floor length cape that slightly shimmered in the moonlight.

Quixote then proceeded to bow, “Sorry your royal highness, I didn’t mean to frighten you.” He stood straight, “I couldn’t help but notice the goings on between you and  **_him_ ** ,” His eyes darkened for a moment at the mention of Remus.” I thought I could be of some service in helping you two calm down by perhaps taking you two for a short walk.”

Roman smiled “I appreciate the offer, Quixote, but no thanks. This is a conversation between the two of us alone,” Roman rejected.

“Yeah!” Remus shouted dirt covering the part of his outfit he fell on, “We don’t need you listening! If you haven’t noticed, pink punk. So scram. Who even are you?”

Quixote glared at Remus before grabbing Roman by one of his shoulders, “Your Royal Highness, not to be rude but why is  _ he  _ here?” He sneered, “He’s not exactly the most noble royal here. We should be heading off. Ooh, maybe we could have a parade and your people could see you up close! That would make their day I’m sure!” He turned to Remus, “And to answer your question I am Quixote. Roman’s royal advisor of sorts. I sometimes venture with him on quests and such but I mostly provide guidance and advice.”

Remus rolled his eyes, “Seriously, Roman. You created a knock-off Patton? That’s kinda sad, honestly.”

Roman relaxed under Quixote’s touch;ignoring Remus’s comment. It felt comforting to be in the presence of a friendly face. So what if Roman had basically created a father figure for whenever he felt like he could never be good enough for Patton? It wasn’t a big deal. Plus that parade idea didn’t sound too bad, but alas he had a mission to continue.

Roman shrugged Quixote’s hand off of him, “Remus is helping on a mission right now. We need to venture to the castle together, there's some business we need to handle.”

“The castle? Well why didn’t you say so?” Quixote snapped his fingers and a familiar feeling of teleportation washed over Roman and Remus.

The world around them seemed to spin but the three of them stayed in place. Before they knew it they were in the dungeons of the castle. The sound of water steadily dripping in the air and the faintest stench of blood. 

Roman stumbled a bit not prepared for the sudden change of scenery and Remus shakily stood up. Both of the twins' blood ran cold, it was impossible for Quixote to be able to do this? As far as they knew they were the only ones that could teleport on whim in the imagination so how did Quixote do that?

Remus ran over and gripped Quixote harshly by the coat, “How in the Hell did you do that?”

Quixote rolled his eyes at Remus, “Isn’t it obvious?”

Roman drew his sword, “You’re trying to be one of the challenges, just like the pond, aren’t you?”

Quixote smiled sweetly at Roman, “Challenges isn’t the right word, dearest. I only decided to take this opportunity to merely...push you in the right direction.”

Remus’s face reddened with anger, “Oh no no no, we are  **not** doing this again!” He went to grab his morningstar but Quixote beat him to it. He smashed Remus over the head with it and Remus fell to the floor. The sound of his body hitting the stone made a sickening crack and Roman couldn’t tell if it was Remus or the stone beneath him.

Roman stared at Quixote, dumbstruck, “What the Hell did you just do?”

Quixote looked at Roman judgmentally and used Roman’s shock to swat the sword out of Roman’s hand, “Don’t use that type of language Roman. Royals don’t use such speech. You wouldn’t want to be like Remus, right? First the outburst and now this?” 

Roman looked at the sword Quixote so easily unequipped from him and turned back to him angrily, “What is going on with you? You’ve never acted like this before.”

“What’s going on with me?” Quixote laughed playfully but it soon turned menacing, “I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation with Remus earlier. Do you really think that's a good idea? All your life you’ve worked to be the perfect prince! Sure there were few obstacles regarding a certain snake but that doesn’t mean we have to take such drastic measures! The whole thing is a minor setback!” Quixote held Roman’s hands, “You’re everyone’s hero, Roman! You’re my hero as well. Now prove it.”

Roman jerked his hands away from him and glared at the man, “I’ll still be a hero. I’ll just be a flawed one and that’s okay!”

Quixote slapped Roman to the ground, “ **NO YOU WILL NOT** !” He took a deep breath and spoke in a calmer tone, “You have to be perfect, Roman. It’s not a choice but a requirement. What will the other sides think about such a sudden change like that. You can’t just become some stupid slob who doesn’t care what he does! It’ll be improper; why don’t you see that?”

Quixote stopped his rant as he noticed Roman gingerly hold the side of his face where he had been slapped. Quixote signed and knelt down next to him, “I’m sorry my dear prince but I cannot allow this to happen. The King tried to send out the reflection to stop you, but I guess we’ll have to take more drastic measures.”

Roman was gazing aimlessly.  _ ‘You should’ve learned by now,’ _ He thought,  _ ‘Even when you’re seemingly in control you can still be manipulated. Shame it had to happen in your own realm, though.’ _

“The King?” Roman asked, barely above a whisper.

Quixote carefully gathered Roman in his arms, “You’ll see soon enough my dearie. Now let’s take you to your room so you can be away from your vile brother.” Simultaneously an invisible force pushed Remus into one of the dungeon cells and locked him in.

Quixote smiled at the prince in his arms, “Now I know right now you’re a bit confused about what it means to be a prince, but the King and I are here to help you, sweet prince~. It might seem scary at first but we’ll help you figure yourself out. Just remember what a certain side once said,” Quixote’s smile brightened as he started to sing.

“There are several sides to us that may seem abstract at first

Until we discover where everything fits and

People can seem like a half-missing puzzle set;

As we find the pieces

Things make more and more sense!”

Roman could only cry as Quixote left the dungeon and soon enough he fell asleep. The weight of what had unfolded crashing down on him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the dark turn. Quixote originally wasn't going to be a Mother Gothel type character but then I saw the "We still love you" scene from POF: Redux and I just went couldn't resist.  
> Btw just want to mention this is not unsympathetic Patton. It's Roman mind manifesting his own insecurities about his standing with Patton. Sorry if this seems obvious but I wanted to make it absolute clear.


	8. Prom Dress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> -  
> I hold so many small regrets  
> And what-ifs down inside my head  
> Some confidence it couldn't hurt me  
> My demeanor is often misread
> 
> I'm sitting here, crying in my prom dress  
> I'd be the prom queen if crying was a contest  
> Makeup is running down, feelings are all around  
> How did I get here I need to know  
> -

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Threats, food mention, cursing, inapropiate langauge, gore, remus stuff.  
> Also sorry if this chapter has some very obvious typos. Today was supposed to be an all writing day but then I remembered I had a chapter post and it wasn't edited so sorry.

Roman woke up to someone singing.

He groggily got up and saw Quixote sitting in a chair next to his bed singing softly to himself as he read a book. He started to panic,  _ ‘Quixote? Why was he in this bed? Where was- Oh.’  _ The events of yesterday replayed in his mind and a pit started to form in his chest.  _ ‘How the Hell was he supposed to get out of here? Could he even get out?’ _

Quixote stopped his singing as he noticed Roman, “Why Hello Your Highness, did you have a good night’s rest?”

Roman stayed silent and Quixote frowned, “Roman, I asked a question. Don’t pretend like you can’t hear me.”

“It was fine,” Roman replied not wanting to feel Quixote’s wrath. When Quixote slapped him it was like someone had set him on fire. Like someone was striking him with lighting and every imperfection was being made known to him.

Quixote smiled satisfied with Roman’s answer, “Well now that you’re awake it’s time to get you into your new outfit!”

Roman raised an eyebrow, “Outfit?”

“Your outfit for breakfast,” Quixote said as he walked over to Roman’s closet and opened it, “You’re having breakfast with the King today so I want you to look your best! First impressions go a long way y’know.”

Roman looked out of the window.  _ ‘Perhaps he could climb down the castle? But what about Remus-’ _

“I sure hope you’re not thinking about leaving, Dearest,” Quixote said sharply as he laid out Roman’s outfit for him. “It would be very rude to the King. He’s been waiting for your arrival for a long time y’know.”

Roman looked back at him and gave him a fake smile, “No not all! Just wanted to admire my kingdom that’s all!”

Quixote rolled his eyes, “Don’t lie to me Roman, you’re not a snake. Besides it’s not your kingdom, at least not right now. Now stop wasting time and put on your clothes, you’re going to be late.”

______________________________________________________________________________

“I feel like a peacock,” Roman said as he fiddled with his circlet, “And not in the good way.”

“Oh don’t be like that, Roman, it’s merely a part of being royalty, besides a prince has got to slay, right?” Quixote rebuked.

The dress was nice enough. It reminded Roman of Merida’s princess dress but with a more full skirt and sleeves. The gold detailing was nice all, but the circlet was where he had problems. After the split the twins vowed to never wear crowns. They didn’t want to be reminded of who they once were. And while the circlet wasn’t exactly a crown it still felt too much, even for Roman.

They reached the dining room and Quixote held of Roman’s hands, “I expect to make a good first impression on your own.”

“You’re not going to be here?” Roman asked.

Quixote sighed, “Unfortunately not. I have some business to carry out, and while I do think you definitely need my guidance I can’t push off what I need to do any longer. So like I said. Make a good first impression, or, good enough for you anyway.”

“Quixote? Is Roman ready? He’s welcome to come in” Roman heard a voice say.

Quixote whispered softly, “Do your best.” And he opened the doors and left.

Roman looked around the dining area. It was definitely extravagant to say the least. Nearly everything was made out of marble and all of the flowers, curtains, and everything was red. It had definitely changed from when he last here, but it was comforting to see something slightly familiar.

Roman then looked at the head of the table and he saw who it was presumably. Again he was almost an exact replica of Roman, save for some differences. His outfit was completely different. He wore a long black coat with gold detailing and a silver cape. His hair was fixed in a neat ponytail and was jet black, but the main attraction was his crown. It seemed to be made completely out of gold and silver details. Roman wondered how he managed to keep it on his head with how heavy it looked. There was also a scepter and an orb on the table. The scepter and orb were made of gold and red and green gemstones decorated them.  _ ‘Odd,’  _ Roman thought to himself,  _ ‘Wonder what they’re used for?’ _

The King gestured to the end of the table, “Please sit. I've been waiting to speak with you.”

Roman shakily sat down in his chair and a plate of french toast appeared in front of him. Roman smiled as he noticed the raspberries making a smile in the corner.  _ ‘Pat’s speciality,’  _ He thought.

“I see you’ve missed the others,” Roman’s head snapped up and the King put both of his hands in front of him. “Do not be so on edge Roman. I’m not here to hurt you.”

Roman glared at him, “Why do I have trouble believing that, your royal douche?”

King smiled sadly, “It’s King Hades, but you can call me Hades. And to answer your question it’s because I care about you.”

Roman covered his mouth trying not to let out a laugh. Hades, “Yes, yes I get it. The methods I used to get you here weren't exactly the most noble but I did what I had to do Roman.”

Roman stopped his laughter, a chill going down his spine, “You brought me here? Why?”

Hades folded his hands on the table, “We have some things to discuss Prince Roman.”

______________________________________________________________________________

“ **ROMAN I SWEAR YOU BETTER COME DOWN HERE AND GET ME BEFORE I KICK YOUR ASS!** ” Remus yelled as he banged on the cell door.

Remus was pissed off. One second that Quixote guy was talking about some stupid nonsene and next he’s knocked out. To make it worse he could see his morningstar near the entrance of the dungeons, mocking him. He huffed, this was so shitty! Remus hated not being in control of situations so being locked in a cell with no one to annoy and nothing to do was his own personal Hell.

“I would be appreciative if you would stop that racket. Our dear Prince doesn’t need to hear your shrieking. You’ve already influenced him too much,” Quixote said as he walked in the dungeons.

Remus smiled wickedly, “Well well well, if it isn’t Prince Pompous Pig Shit. Thought you didn’t want to be around people like me? Aww, am I starting to grow on you?”

Quixote sneered, “Would you stop with such vulgar language? The other sides would like you more if you weren’t such a pest.”

Remus blinked at him, “Are being serious right now? You’re actually trying that ‘use my insecurities’ tactics against me?” Remus laughed, “Newsflash buddy! I don’t give a single flying fuck about what those honey nut lame-os think of me! You can’t manipulate me like you can with Roman, shitbag. So let me out so we can get out of each other's way and never bother each other again, capiche?”

Quixote took a deep breath, “You shouldn’t be so crude. I was only trying to give you some advice, but I guess I’ll be on my way. Such a shame no will be in your company.”

Remus stood still for a moment before his smile grew bigger, “Aww, you have to go so soon?”

Quixote, “No, but I’m using Logan’s advice. You’re merely a nuisance. As long as no one is around you to give you attention you’re harmless.”

Remus glared at him, “ **I’m bash your head in and use your brain to make a smoothie**.”

Quixote laughed, “That would be threatening if one, you could actually conjure anything,” He pointed to the morningstar, “And two, if you had your little toy. But you don’t so I feel no fear. Buh bye!”

Remus watched as Quixote left him completely alone.

Remus grabbed his hair and tore some of it out. How the did Hell was he supposed to get out? His powers weren’t working at all and he had no way to contact Roman. He crumpled to the ground.

He was left alone again. Just like when he was split, just like when Virgil left, and recently like how Janus left. He chuckled sadly to himself, it seemed he was always bound to be alone.


	9. Intermission/In The Bedroom Down the Hall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> -  
> (Oh, you try) you try to give your kid the world  
> Give him everything you've got  
> What if I gave all I could (what if I gave all I could)  
> And I thought it was enough (and I thought it was enough)  
> But I find that it was not?
> 
> Did I let you down?
> 
> What else can I do?
> 
> Everything I ever did, I did it all for you
> 
> Anything to make you happy  
> Anything at all  
> Anything for my boy in the bedroom down the hall  
> -

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Arguements, Patton Angst  
> also important stuff!!! I'm gonna wait until I finish posting the fic here before posting it on tumblr. Tumblr can be really wonky sometimes and at this point I'm tired of it.

Quixote wasn’t always like this.

He remembered when he was created. Roman had been having a rough day, a fight with Logan, Patton, and Virgil had ended pretty badly and he couldn’t stand to be in his room so he left to the imagination. But unfortunately now he was lonely and he didn’t want to go to his brother for help.

That’s when the idea of Quixote came in and was formed. Patton’s kindness and parental instincts, Logan’s wise words, and Virgil’s vigilance all came together to form him. Quixote, the all in one parent, friend, and teacher made out of clouds, rain, and sunshine. Positivity is perfect in every way.

So whenever Roman was feeling down he ranted to Quixote. About the other sides, about his insecurities, or anything else that bothered him. And then Roman began taking him on quests in the imagination. Fighting beasts or all sizes, discovering ancient cities, and solving seemingly impossible to solve mysteries. And as Roman spent more and more time with him he began to become more developed and more of his own person. More of his own goals.

And that’s when everything went wrong.

Quixote wanted to help Roman, but there was little he could do. He was only something to be vented at. He was supposed to listen and nothing more, but then one of Roman’s greatest ideas came along. A journey, an epic quest, a task so grandiose and perfect that would fix every single flaw in Roman. He had turned the imagination into a trial, a place where he could confront his problems head on and become the prince and hero Thomas needed him to be, but he didn’t take into account how the imagination would manifest itself into that. Unknowingly, Roman gave up most of his power to the imagination itself which caused a rift in his side of it. Plotlines and stories that were taking place there were erased or shifted constantly. It was absolute chaos, and that's where Doubt came in to bring order into the chaos.

Doubt was formed from the shadows that lingered in Roman’s mind. Every insult thrown his way, every insult threw back, all his deepest insecurities formed into one being. He knew what Roman feared about the others, he knew what Roman feared about himself and using that knowledge he planned to help Roman in his own way.

Doubt quickly discovered Quixote, who was trying to adjust to all the new changes going around, and decided he would be a perfect asset to his plan.

“So do you have a name or something?” Quixote asked politely.

Doubt thought for a moment, he didn’t come here with a name and he didn’t have any plans to make one, “No.”

Quixote stared at him a moment before coming up with an idea, “King Hades! King because you’re in charge now and Hades because you’re kinda scary and he was a king too!”

Doubt smiled, “I like it.”

And so they began to lay out their plans to help Roman and Hades gave Quixote some of his power, but a problem quickly arose. Roman was a side but Hades wasn’t, he was only a small fraction of Roman’s mind, so when he was handed Roman’s amount of power trouble soon arose. He couldn’t handle it by himself or else it would overwhelm him, giving it back to the imagination could pose problems for Thomas, and he couldn’t just shove the rest of it onto Quixote. So that’s where the scepter and the orb came in. Two symbols of royalty that he could use to help channel his newfound power more easily.

And with that newfound power and a way to channel it Hades was nearly unstoppable. Roman and unfortunately Remus had gone into the imagination and had little to no control over this side of the imagination. And to ensure that he would be in full control he had made sure Remus wouldn’t be able to access any of his own tricks, but there was one big problem.

The portal. 

Due to the fact that the portal was technically connected to the mindscape, the imagination, and the commons room meant that he wouldn’t be able to destroy it. But that wouldn’t be a problem, he would simply just have to keep Roman and Remus away from it. Remus and Roman weren’t strong enough to go against him and the only person who could hopefully never come back. Besides, the other sides wouldn’t be particularly happy with the return of him.

Speaking of the other sides…

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Okay can one of you please just say something?” Thomas asked desperately. 

For the past week he had been feeling not too good and peachy. He had noticed he had been lacking the energy to do the most basic of tasks and he couldn’t work on any upcoming projects because all of his ideas just weren’t good enough and were completely unusable. And that didn’t even cover how he felt about his previous works and performances. He thought, almost obsessed, over every single small mistake and had become so judgemental over every small thing no matter how significant. Over the past two days, however, it had only gotten worse. He felt like he was moving through a fog and there was nothing that could help him navigate it. It was like he was missing an important part of something.

So he called Patton, but he didn't do anything but call Virgil. Virgil was in the same boat as Patton per the no talking thing and the two seemed to be having an entire conservation by looking back at each other, Thomas, where Logan would usually be, then back at- That’s it!

“Logan,” Thomas summoned the said side, “Can you please tell me what’s going on here?”

Logan looked at Patton and Virgil and they both gave him a nod, “I suppose it would do you no good to continue to act like nothing’s happening. To keep it short, Roman won’t be with us for a while. That’s why you’ve been feeling disconcerted. The current lack of his presence has caused your motivation, ego, and creative pursuits to take a figurative nosedive.”

Thomas stood there stunned, “What? So he ducked out? Why?”

Virgil flinched at the use of the word, “No, not exactly. He’s still here and all, but it’s like he’s taking a vacation. He might be back, but we don’t know.”

“B-but,” Thomas stammered, “I can just take us all to his room!”

“No!” Logan and Virgil both shouted.

Patton eyed them suspiciously, “Wouldn’t that be a good thing, though? As long as we don’t stay in there for long we should be fine, right?”

Virgil eyed Logan, “Lo? You wanna explain?”

Logan hesitated before giving in, “It is my duty as logic to provide all necessary facts. It wouldn’t be fair to leave you two out of it. A mirror has appeared in Roman’s room.”

Thomas cocked his head, “Like the one from Snow White?”

“Like that but reversed,” Logan answered, “Instead of telling you how you’re the fairest in the land and building you up, it seems to tear you down. It summons a mirror image of the person looking into and ‘reflects’ their insecurities by verbally saying them. It forces the person looking to confront any issues or insecurities they have. It seems to be a tactic to keep people out of his room. So with that information I think I can say it would be in the best course of action to simply wait for Roman to return on his volition.”

Thomas looked at Logan with concerned, “Deepest insecurities? Loga-”

“Don’t!” Logan hushed, “Please. I’d rather not talk about it. Perhaps at a later date but right now is not the time.”

Patton thought for a moment, “How did Remus get in then?”

“Wait wait wait what?” Thomas started, “Remus is with Roman? Willingly?”

“We don’t know if he’s in there against his will or not but yes he is with Roman,” Logan turned to Patton, “And to answer you question there are two theories I have. One, Remus is creativity so he has full access to the imagination. Or two, Remus is less concerned about his image. So it could be that the insults don’t work on his ego and/or he’s just not as affected as we are.”

“Roman!” Thomas suddenly shouted. The other sides looked at him curiously and Thomas shrugged, “What? You said Roman hadn’t ducked out so I should be able to summon him.”

Patton sighed, “Kiddo...think about it like your relative just moved away to another house in the neighborhood after living with you for a while. Yeah, they’re still there and around your vicinity, but you can’t call on them and expect them to come rushing down the stairs. Roman’s around but that doesn’t mean he’s coming home.”

Thomas stood there in silence. This was really happening. Roman was gone. 

Thomas huffed and sat down on the couch, “Well then I guess we’re going to have to get really good at the waiting game, huh?”

Patton smiled sadly, “It’s okay, kiddo. I’m sure Roman will be back safe and sound and then we can have a proper chat about this, right guys?” He turned to Logan and Virgil but they both avoided him and Thomas’s gaze. It nearly broke Patton’s heart.

“I believed that’s all we can say today, Thomas,” Logan said weakly, “I’m sorry we couldn’t be more helpful.”

Thomas waved him off, “It’s not ideal but you guys are doing everything you can. Thank you.”

“But that’s the problem!” Virgil was suddenly done being quiet, “We’re doing nothing and just hoping Roman’s gonna come back. What we need to do is make a plan for if Roman ducks out and we don’t see him again!”

Patton stared at him, “Kiddo-”

“No!” Virgil screamed again, “We can’t keep pretending it's all sunshine and rainbows Pop! We have a serious issue on our hands! How do you think Thomas is supposed to live now with Roman gone? We can’t work on anything and soon enough Thomas probably won’t find a reason to keep living with his motivation gon-”

“Stop!” Patton cried, “I get it Virgil! I get it! I’m trying to stay hopeful because that's all I can do! You think I’m naive, Virgil? That I haven’t considered the possibility that Roman ducked out like you did because of my stupid mistakes?

Tears streamed down Patton’s face, “I’m scared Virgil. I’m really scared because I just made the same mistake I did with you but now I can’t fix it. But I’m still hopeful. I know things are looking bleak and there’s no guarantee in anything right now, but I’m still hopeful!”

Patton wiped some of his tears away, “I have to be hopeful. I have to be because Roman’s hopes and dreams are the only things that I can cling onto right now.”

Virgil hung his head in shame, “Patton I’m-”

“Don’t be,” He reassured, “We’re all in a difficult spot right now I really can’t blame you. But what’s important is that we stay together as a family and hold each other close because,” Patton choked, “I don’t think I can handle losing any more of you.”


	10. Turning Turtle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> -  
> If fast is slow, low is high, stop is go and that is why  
> Every second Wednesday is a hurdle  
> From 8 to 9, all is well  
> Then I roll over on my shell  
> And all because the world is turning turtle  
> -

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Minor cursing.  
> this chapter was borderline painful to write. remus is fun to write but as soon as you have to do emotional stuff with him he becomes an absolute pain.

Remus paced around the cell. How could he be so stupid? Now there was no one way Roman and him could get out! Plus they still needed to deal with Roman’s self-esteem issues! That idiot was still a sad-sack mess and needed to talk about with someone before he did something more drastic like ducking out.

Remus halted his pacing and thought back to the events of the past day and half. Why was he so worried about Roman ducking out? Remus shocked his head, it was probably just because that wouldn’t be the best thing for the other sides as well as Thomas, but that raised more questions.The others needed Roman to function, yeah, but why did Remus  _ want _ him to go back? Remus appeared to Thomas because he had wanted Roman gone. Roman was boring, stupid disney fantasy nonsene, and no blood or gore or anything fun! Couldn’t he have just knocked Roman out and left to go to the portal himself?

Remus once again crumpled to the floor. No, he could never do that and that’s what scared him. Roman and him were supposed to be bitter enemies who always wanted to be victorious over the other. Hell, even though they shared a room they still pretended the other didn’t exist and would be better off gone. Remus’s room was hidden under Roman’s ;something the other sides didn’t know. The only way the rooms were connected was by the ladder under Roman’s bed and even then, it had been years since one of them used it. 

Remus sighed to himself. He couldn’t believe himself. He actually cared about his stupid twerp of a brother. He dragged his nails across his face and yelled. All he knew was being flipped on its head. Remus and Roman were supposed to never care about each other! This went against everything they grew up and learned!

_ ‘Oh,’  _ Remus realized,  _ ‘This is what Roman feels like.’ _

The feeling of suddenly everything you know is now wrong. That what you thought was true wasn’t the case even though you thought it was right in front of you clear as day, but you were seeing and thinking wrong. That you needed to change, but how could you so suddenly? How do you change so quickly into a new beliefset after being so sure that one you had been practicing all your life was the right one and the one everyone else was supposed to follow?

Their entire worlds were being flipped on their heads and nothing was making sense. God, Remus hadn’t been this confused since the split. Remus frowned at the thought, he told Roman they could never be the King again, but that wasn’t technically true. They still shared the trait of being creatively so theoretically they could fuse but what would be the point? They had diverged so far that fusing would be difficult and they probably couldn’t stay as the King permanently.

_ ‘But maybe with all the changes Roman’s going through that maybe won’t be the case?’ _

Remus shook his head sadly, a couple of tears welling up in his eyes, the King wasn’t coming back. Roman and Remus hated being around each other too much, or at least they were supposed to, and Thomas couldn’t live like that. There was no place for the King with the way the current mindscape was set up. Oh well, it was a nice thought in the dumpster fire of Remus’s mind, but good and nice thoughts weren’t supposed to be in Remus’s in mind. He was the bad guy, goddammit, he had to act and think like one.

_ ‘Could that change? Since Roman was changing what does that mean for you?’ _

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Sure, just because it turned that maybe the twins weren’t so different in some aspects that didn’t mean they were completely similar. Remus was the not so funhouse mirror. He was a mirror image of Roman but distorted and twisted into something darker, but was that all he had to be? All his life Remus had been living as Roman’s shadow. Where Roman was the light giving bloom to a wonderful world of heartwarming fantasies Remus was there to be the inverse. Killing beauty and softness and letting chaos and fantasies of blood and thoughts not to be acted upon reign free. 

Or was it the opposite? Was Roman to phoenix built up from the ashes of Remus’s “bad” creativity? Or was Remus the waste cut from Roman’s “good” creativity. Was it truly a split? Or did one of them decide they didn’t need the other anymore and cut them off? Who was the King? Why did he have to be split in two? Just because of morality and maturity?

But that raised the question of why Roman had to listen to morality! He was creativity! Remus never listened to what Patton said was and wasn’t good, but Roman took it as gospel! Why did he limit himself? Didn’t Roman realize he could be so much stronger without morals? Could the King come back if he let go of those morals? Or had they truly evolved too far?

Remus stared back at his morningstar. God he hated being alone. Not getting attention was bad enough but now having to actually think about shit like this? He hated it. There was no fun in emotional angst if you were the one who had to actually deal with it. It was like he was getting karma for the shit he pulled with Thomas. And the worse part was that he couldn’t ignore these thoughts. He had been repressing them for years and years but now they wouldn’t be silenced anymore.

“Funny,” Remus laughed to himself, “The personification of Intrusive Thoughts is having thoughts he doesn’t like and wants them to go away. Sad.”


	11. Go The Distance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> -  
> Like a shooting star, I will go the distance  
> I will search the world, I will face its harms  
> I don't care how far, I can go the distance  
> 'Till I find my hero's welcome waiting in your arms  
> -

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Malnipulation, character death (not roman or remus), arguing   
> Also sorry for the short absence. Personal life and all that.

Hades summoned two wine glasses. One on the side of his plate and one on the side of Roman’s. He took a small sip, “Roman, I only want to help you. You came into the imagination looking to fix your flaws and I’m only trying to help you do that.”

Roman crossed his arms, “Well your ways of going about it weren’t exactly the most helpful, besides, that doesn’t explain why you trapped Remus in the dungeons.”

“He was going to complicate my plans,” Hades said calmly, “Roman, you need to stay in the imagination if you want to get better. Quixote and I are trying to help you become the prince and the hero you’re meant to be. Remus was getting in the way of that so I had to remove him from the picture.”

Roman shook his head, “This place is only a fantasy, like it or not, I have to go back and fix what’s wrong. The others are worried about me and I have no idea how this is affecting Thomas.”

Hades frowned at the mention of the other sides, “Roman I hate to tell you this, but locking yourself in here was probably the only right choice you’ve made in a while. You’re just not good enough for them. You go out there and put your best and most pitiful foot forward only to get beaten down again and again. You’re hurting yourself, Roman. If you stay in here you can always be the hero because this world is made for you! I can teach you how to be perfect and you’ll stay perfect. Isn’t that what you want?”

“What about my job as Thomas’s creativity, pride, and ego? I can’t leave Thomas and the others hanging like that,” Roman argued.

Hades scoffed, “Roman, I’m pretty sure Logan, Virgil, and Janus are delighted that you’re gone. Patton will be sad for a while but he’ll move on. Plus, you still have a presence in Thomas’s mind. He can still feel his creativity and all that jazz. Although since you’re not in the mindscape it’s not as strong, but the others can give him that push.”

Roman turned back to the door and looked back at Hades, “I’ll stay, but you have to promise me one thing.”

Hades smiled, “Anything you want.”

“You have to let Remus go,” Hades’s mouth went agape.

“Absolutely not,” He spluttered, “You and I both know the first thing he’ll do is probably try and get you out or something.”

Roman was confused, “He hates me. He would never do something like. The only reason why he was being nice to me is because he wants to get out of here.”

Hades combed his hands through his hair, “Yeah, if he hadn’t gotten so sappy he would have, but for some reason he won’t. I can feel his doubt and questioning angst all the way from here. So yeah that’s a no go.”

“You promised anything I wanted,” Roman glared at him.

Hades laughed, “I lied to you, big whoop.”

Roman stood up and slammed his hands on the table, “ **Let me out!** ”

The dinnerware on the table shook and some of it fell on the floor and shattered. Hades looked at it and then at Roman with disgust, “See? Imagine if the others saw that! They’d be scared of you!”

Hades put his head in his hands, “God, I do not want to deal with this. Quixote!”

Said man walked through the doors and assessed the situation, “I see something has gone wrong, your Majesty. How can I help you?”

Hades rubbed his temple, “Escort our dear Prince to his room, please. We both need time to cool down.”

Quixote looked softly at Hades before grabbing Roman’s arm and practically dragging him and throwing him out the dining area. Quixote dragged Roman through a hallway with empty suits of armor holding swords where paintings of battle and menacing portraits of Hades decorated the walls.

“I knew you were going to be difficult but Holy Hera! It’s not that hard, Roman! All we’re asking is to follow what we say and do it! Are you too dimwitted to figure that out?” Quixote scolded as he walked Roman to his room.

Roman held his head high, “No, I’m smart enough to realize that’s bullshit.” Quixote went to slap him but Roman caught his arm. Roman glared at the man, “I was right back in the forest. I don’t need to be a perfect prince or hero. Do I have flaws? Yes, but who doesn’t.”

Roman pushed Quixote away from him, “So you and that asshole with a crown can try all you want but I’m standing my ground! You two took away my powers and you took away my brother but you are not taking away my dignity!”

Quixote held a hand to his heart, “You don’t want to be perfect? Roman think about what that’ll do! You won’t care about what others think and you’ll become ignorant. Life should be about becoming the best versions of ourselves! Are you just going to throw that away?”

Roman shook his head, “No. I’m realizing that it’s okay if I stumble and fall and don’t get everything right because I can always try again. The other sides love me and I love them, so I’m going to get out of here and apologize and fix this mess.”

Quixote’s chest cracked like glass but he laughed, “Get out of here? That orb and scepter hold the King’s power and technically yours. He could stop you in an instant!”

Roman smirked, “He can definitely stop me. But I know someone who Hades can’t destroy.”

Quixote rolled his eyes, unimpressed, “Oh yes because your dimwit of a brother can totally defeat the King while he’s in captivity. How will we ever stand up to him?”

“I wasn’t talking about Remus,” Roman as he sneakily inched closer to one of the suits of armor near the hallway hall.

Quixote furrowed his eyebrows and then realized what Roman was saying, “You can’t possibly bring him back! Think about it Roman! You’re good and Remus is bad! If you do that you’ll be upsetting that balance! You’ll cease to be perfect! And if you stop being perfect or even seeking it-”

“It’ll destroy you?” Roman interrupted and Quixote looked shocked, “I started to put the pieces together. You became a manifestation of perfectionism. All that talk of being perfect gave it away.” Roman frowned sadly, “I’m guessing whatever I did with the portal corrupted you and turned you into...this. And I’m sorry for that, but I’m not sorry for not following your rules. And I’m not sorry for this.”

Roman grabbed a sword from one of the suits of armor and drove it through Quixote’s chest. Quixote stared down at the sword and weakly grabbed it, he then stared at Roman in shock before hanging his head in shame and shattering into pieces. 

Roman stepped back and looked at all of the pieces littering the hallway before headed off to the dungeons. He had no time to waste. He needed to save his brother and return the rightful king to the throne.


	12. Intermission/The Party Goes With You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> -  
> But when you strike your goodbye pose  
> Everybody knows, everybody knows  
> The party, well, it goes too  
> And damn it all, darling  
> The party goes with you  
> -

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Cursing  
> also this is going to be really short sorry about that

A few hours had passed since their conversation with Thomas. The sides were all now sitting in their kitchen in the mindscape quietly freaking out on what to do. Logan and Janus were both eerily silent, Virgil had been doing his breathing exercises and was trying to distract himself with music, and all Patton could do was watch.

Patton sat on the couch and ran a hand through his hair. What could he do? He was still hopeful that Roman would come back but even he couldn’t be so sure that he wasn’t going to duck out. None of them expected it when Virgil did. Patton glanced at Virgil and then turned back to looking at the floor. How could he let this happen again? He let down one the members of his family and now Thomas had to face the consequences again. He checked up on Roman after the video and a few more times after that but he should have done more! What did he miss? Did he ask the wrong questions? What could he do if Roman came back but still felt bad?

“Patton,” Janus said, noticing his increasing panic, “You need to breathe.”

A few tears slipped down Patton’s face, “What I need is Roman back.”

Janus frowned and sat down next to Patton, “We all do.” He rubbed his hand in small circles on Patton’s back, “It’s gonna be okay. When Roman gets back we’re gonna talk this through and become stronger than ev-”

Suddenly a chill went down all of their spines. Virgil’s eyes pinpointed as the shock hit him, “Roman and Remus are gone.”

Logan shook his head, “No they’re not I can feel something still! There’s still an aura around!”

“But it’s not theirs!” Virgil yelled back nearly slipping into his tempest tongue.

Janus wasted no time and all six of his arms sprouted from his side. He grabbed all of them and practically dragged them to Roman’s room. “What are you doing?” Patton shrieked.

“Roman!” Janus yelled at the door, “If you don’t come out right now I’ll have no choice but to break down this door! I’m giving you until the count of three!”

“One!” Janus started and Logan tried to shake one of the arms off of him, “Janus you don’t know what you’re doing! You’re panicking! Please, let us go and calm down!” 

“Two!” Patton looked at Logan, “He’s doing what’s right! We ignored Roman’s problem for way too long and that’s what landed us in this mess! We can’t keep letting each other down!”

“Three!” And with a thrust of his cane the door was burst open. Patton, Logan, and Virgil narrowly avoided the splinters of wood and stared in horror at the room.

The room, or rooms, seemed to be melting into each other. The floor separating Roman and Remus’s rooms had collapsed and the red and green wallpaper seemed to be melting into each other. It looked a lot like how it was before the split.

Wait a second.

Janus and the others took in more and more of the surroundings of the room. The usual staple fancifulness and the crudeness details in Remus’s and Roman’s respective seem to also meld together. It was like their aesthetics combined together to make something more appealing, more daring, and more creative.

“Those motherfuckers fused,” Janus stated simply.

Virgil glared at Janus, “You’re kidding.” He turned to Logan, “He’s lying isn’t he? They would never do this.”

Logan stared in shock at the room, “He’s not. There’s no other explanation for this, Virgil.”

“King’s back, but that mirror you two mentioned is still there,” Patton said as tears rolled down his face.

Logan adjusted his skewed glasses and studied the scene and sure enough the mirror was on the floor in all of it’s immaculate and mysterious glory. 

Janus stepped back from the doorframe and looked at the others, “How in the Hell do we explain this to Thomas?”

They were all silent. How were they supposed to explain this to Thomas? The split was meant’ to be permanent? Were Roman and Remus going to stay fused? Was it something else entirely? Why were they still in the imagination?

Virgil was curled on the floor, “We’re all fucked.”

Patton flinched at the harsh language but nodded and sat down next to him, “Yeah, kiddo. We are.”


	13. Wonderboy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> -  
> History of Wonderboy and Young Nastyman,  
> Riggah-goo-goo, riggah-goo-goo.  
> A secret to be told, a gold chest to be bold,  
> And blasting forth with three-part harmony, yeow!  
> Wonderboy, what is the secret of your power?  
> Wonderboy, won't you take me far away from the mucky-muck man?
> 
> Well, Wonderboy and Young Nastyman joined forces;  
> they formed a band the likes of which have never been seen,  
> and they called themselves Tenacious D. That's right,  
> Me! And KG!  
> That's me.  
> We're now Tenacious D!  
> Come fly with me, fly!  
> -

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Cursing, that's all for now!

Hades sat alone at the dining room table. Why couldn’t Roman just see he was trying to do what was best for him! He wasn’t trying to be the bad guy! He was simply taking the necessary actions that would be the best for Roman and Thomas! Why was that so hard to understand?

Hades summoned a new wine cup and drank from it. Zeus, he was trying of Roman’s shenanigans and stubbornness. Now that Hades thought about it that’s probably why the others didn’t like him.

Suddenly a shock went through Hades’s body. _‘What the Hell was that?’_ He thought to himself. Perhaps Quixote would have answers. 

“Quixote!” Hades yelled but there was no response. ‘Odd,’ Hades thought to himself. ‘Perhaps he’s still talking with Roman?’ 

He whoosed away the wine glass and made his way to Roman’s room. Still no sign of Roman or-

Oh.

_ Oh. _

Hades walked into the hallway of knights and he saw shards of glass littering the floor. He knelt down and carefully picked a piece up. It was slightly tinted pink. Hades huffed, Quixote would be out of commission for a while. Whatever, after he got Roman he could rebuild him later. Hades poofed away the glass shards and then realized one of the knights was missing its sword.

“Are you kidding me?” Hades stomped his foot, “You’re really testing me, Roman.” Hades waved his hands around and a ball of light formed in his hands. He then sent out the light into the suits of armor and they became animated.

“Guards!” All the knights turned to face their King, “That stupid prince is probably gonna go and try to free his brother. I want you to capture Roman and lock him in his room. I’ll address him later once I,” Hades dragged a finger across his neck, “Deal with his brother.”

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Roman? How the Hell did you get here?” Remus asked, surprised. He was laying on the floor of his cell when Roman had burst into the dungeons looking like a man on a mission and in a dress? He also seemed to get a new sword which was cool. Remus sat up, “What’s with the dress? Did you decide the big thing you needed to do was a costume change?” 

Roman shook his head and walked up to Remus’s cell, “It’s not important right now. What we need to do is get you out of here. Any ideas?”

Remus quickly pointed to his morningstar, “Grab that and swing it against the lock! Pretty sure it’s strong enough to break it straight off.”

Roman complied and swung it against the lock and Remus whooped, “Great! Now we just gotta get to the portal and-”

“Not just yet,” Roman said as he handed Remus the weapon, “The imagination seems to have created a King to rule over the place. He took away our ability to conjure and teleport and he’s not so keen on us leaving.”

Remus waved around his morningstar, “Well then I guess we’re gonna have to defeat him then! You got a fancy sword and I have my weapon of chaos and destruction!”

“He’s stronger than us, Remus.” Roman explained, “He could take us both down in an instant, but I know someone who matches his power.”

Remus picked his nose and leaned against a nearby wall, “We’ll then tell your buddy to get over and defeat this asshole. I’m tired of this place! It’s all boring and shit.”

“I’m talking about King Creativity, Remus. We need to fuse.” 

Remus stared at him, “What?” Roman looked deadly serious, “Are you insane? Did that Barbie pink prick do something to your brain?” He grabbed Roman’s shoulders, “We cannot become the King again! It’s not possible!”

Roman smiled sadly at him, “We both know that’s not true. The dynamics have changed Remus. Thomas is changing. The line that separated the black and the white is blurring together and it’s providing us the opportunity to return the King. Besides we don’t even have to stay fused! All we have to do is defeat this guy and then we’re home free and separate again!”

“Are you being serious! All these years we’ve been enemies and working against each other but now that your ego has been bruised you suddenly want my help? Do you not realize how much bullshit you’re sprouting? This entire ordeal is because you’re incapable of dealing with more mature shit and the idea that you’re not the good guy.”

“Remus you’re right but I want that to change! I don’t know how but I want it to change!” Roman explained desperately, “I’m gonna be honest. I don’t know whether or not we need to be separated into bad and good. I don’t know who I’m supposed to be and who you’re supposed to be. This is all new to both of us but we need to work through it together.” 

Remus sniffed a little bit, “Together? The only reason we’re barely tolerating each other right now is because this is bad for both of us! If I was trapped in here you wouldn’t have given a shit about me!”

“That’s not true!” Roman shouted back, “Remus you’re my brother! I don’t want to lose you!”

“Lose me? You don’t want to lose me?” Remus laughed darkly, “You and the other pricks only shut me out and don’t even want me there! Hell, even Virgil and Janus got tired of me and left! You only want to talk about us being family and shit because it benefits you!”

“Oh my God!” Roman dragged his hands through his hair, “Remus! Don’t you hear what I’m saying! I want to fix that! These rules that we’ve imposed on ourselves have been damaging us! You had a semi-valid point with Thomas back then! Thomas does limit his creativity but that’s us limiting ourselves too! We told ourselves one of us had to be good and one of us had to be bad but that can change! Thomas’s morality is changing and we have to change with it!”

A couple of tears were running down Roman’s face, “Remus we’re both messed up. We’re supposed to be brothers but we can barely have a normal fucking conversation without fighting each other. We can’t keep going on like this. Think about what this will do to Thomas. He can’t keep having two sides constantly going at each other's throats like this! We have to grow up and do what’s best for Thomas and ourselves. We’re hurting each other and I don’t think we can take any more of this.”

Remus also had tears running down his face, “Maybe we can talk to that Picani guy about family therapy or some bullshit?”

Roman smiled, “Yeah, we can. But first we gotta get the Hell out of here,” He extended a hand, “What do you say?”

Remus smiled as well and took his hand, “Let’s go kick his ass.”

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A father turning into a frog monster and holding a couple captive. A King killed and reborn into two people. A logician being hit by a shuriken. A person being accepted for who he is. A courtroom with a question and an unsatisfying answer. A train hitting five people. A train hitting one person. A man wondering if he should take the fruit from the tree. A snake sneaking up a tree. A father watching in horror as the snake coils around his arm. An accepted man trying to free the father and kill the snake. A logician providing the snake the knowledge to hang on and providing the father the knowledge to get the snake off. Two brothers trying to figure out which side to choose. Two brothers choosing a side. Two brothers wondering why they chose a side. Two wondering why they felt a need to choose a side in the first place. A man wondering how he ended up in this mess.

Millions of ideas and thoughts whirled past his head but he didn’t have time to pay attention to them. King Romulus’s realm was being invaded and he wasn’t too happy about that. That tyrant may have had his fun parading around as a phony King but now the real king was here to take his rightful place at the throne.

“Roman! Get out of there right this instant!” He heard Hades yell.

“I’m afraid Roman isn’t here right now,” And Romulus summoned a great axe and smirked.

This was going to be **_fun._**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's him!!!  
> btw i decided to make him a playlist since i was bored so here ;P https://open.spotify.com/playlist/53IcvvVFV8GE9Divh3CYWy?si=4uzmd3ZcT_2udonh5jWnqg


	14. She Used To Be Mine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> -  
> She's imperfect, but she tries  
> She is good, but she lies  
> She is hard on herself  
> She is broken and won't ask for help  
> She is messy, but she's kind  
> She is lonely most of the time  
> She is all of this mixed up and baked in a beautiful pie  
> She is gone, but she used to be mine  
> -

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Fighting, violence, descriptions of injury, dying/death.

“Roman! Get out of there right this instant!” Hades yelled.

A small group of guards stood behind him ready to attack. Roman was going to come back to Hades whether he liked it or not and that  **_rat_ ** of a man was going to pay for Roman’s behavior. Hades had spent too much time planning and prepping and he barely had any time to get his plans started before Roman already started going off script! 

“I’m afraid Roman isn’t here right now.”

Hades stood still. He didn’t recognize the voice in the dungeon, or was it two people? It sounded like one person, but he could also hear two distance and  _ familiar  _ voices. Like a song with the main singer and backing vocals.

Hades gestured for the guards to get into their battle stances and politely knocked door like he wasn’t almost to give Roman the worst lecture of his life and dropkick Remus straight to Hell, 

“Roman stop with whatever voice trick you’re using and get out of there! You’re screwing everything up! Just follow my guide and I promise we’ll get you right back on track,” Hades pleaded, “I don’t want to get ugly with you.”

“Why don’t you come in here and tell him that yourself?” Roman replied amused. Amused? Hades growled. How dare this intruder not recognize his power! Did he think this was some kind of joke? 

“Alright then,” Hades said as he opened the door, “I guess I’m the bad gu-”

**_SMASH!_ **

A figure smashed Hades back with a great axe. The force of the blow sent Hades barreling right into his guards and knocked most of them out. Hades huffed and sat up, glaring at the intruder.

Shit.

A man stood there. His hair was jet black with streaks of white akin to Frankenstein. He wore black traditional King’s wear but without the mantle. A crown of silver sat atop of his head and skin had cracks with black mist steaming out of them. But what was most striking were his eyes. They were a glaring white and it seemed like they held everything behind them. Every bad and good thought and idea. Every ounce of courage and every drop of insecurity and every vulnerable behind a shield. The King almost seemed like an angel. Divine, Holy, and Pristine.

But Hades thought no such thing.

“How dare you?” Hades laughed, “I try to do what’s best for Thomas and Roman and yet I’m treated like the villain? Are you being serious! I’m the most heroic person in the entire mindscape! I do what’s good! Why are you trying to get in the way of that?”

Hades laughed again and stood up, “Oh it’s that “flawed hero” nonsense isn’t it? That foolery you used to excuse your actions! I get it now! You know I thought since you didn’t want to face reality and all that but if you’re going to come up with stuff like that then I guess I didn’t need to do anything!”

Romulus only studied Hades. His stare didn’t seem judgmental, but it didn’t feel too friendly either. He spoke, “That orb and scepter you hold. It holds both of our...my power. I would like it back now. You’ve had your fun playing King but now it’s time to go, Hades.”

Hades smirked and transformed the orb and scepter into a sword and shield, “Seriously? You think I’m going to give into that? I’m going to become Thomas’s hero since you two are too broken to handle that responsibility. Now unfuse so I can chop your heads off. A quick death that royalty deserves!”

“Hades,” Romulus started as cracks began forming in the room, “You’re in over your head. You don’t know what I can do.”

Hades smiled manically, “I’d loved to see what you can do against me!” 

Suddenly the floor around them shot up straight into the throne room and Hades stumbled before regaining his balance. 

Hades looked at the floor before remembering the portal. Quickly, he raised sharp black around around it so he could block it from the two brats, “Neat trick you got going there! Now it’s time to show off mine!”

Romulus looked bored as several faceless guards with swords were summoned around him. The guards then started to close around him and he merely sighed as he swung his great axe in a circle and they all vanished.

“You can’t keep that power forever Hades,” A hint of concern was in Romulus’s voice, “Just give it to me so you don’t get hurt.”

Hades snarled and lunged at Romulus. He swept the King on his feet and held the sword to his throat, “I’m the hero you never were. I’m the one Thomas and the others need. They don’t need a sad-sack prince or attention seeking child.”

Romulus continued to keep his calm, “Those poisons you plant won’t grow in my mind. Roman and Remus aren’t here right now, the King is. And I’m not letting you hurt them anymore.”

Hades laughed and swung his sword down on Romulus, but the other quickly rolled over and pinned Hades to the ground with his boot, “Well then tell those two to come out here and face me like men! Or are they scared? Some royalty they are!”

Romulus dug his heel into Hades’s chest and he seemed to get a tad angry, “Ironic coming out of you. You wouldn’t even be here without Roman. Just accept the fact you have too much and get out.”

Hades grabbed the boot and tried desperately to get it off of him, but his efforts were in vain. The King wasn’t going to let up any time soon. “The imagination gave me the necessary power to defeat you and that’s what I’ll use to get rid of you two!”

Suddenly the chandelier above them snapped it’s chain and started to fall, but Romulus wasn’t still wasn’t moving. Hades started to panic, “Buddy you might wanna get off so-”

Too late. The chandelier fell onto the ground with a crash that nearly split Hades’s eardrums. Shards of glass embedded itself into his skin and cut him up like a piece of paper. It  _ hurt.  _ He was pretty sure some of it actually got into his body, but Romulus didn’t share the same fate. The glass bounced off of his like it was rubber and his hair and clothes remained untouched.

Hades spat out some of the glass onto Romulus's boot, “Y-Y-you ass. How the Hell did you not get hurt by that?”

“It’s my imagination. I decide who and who doesn’t get hurt. You’re just a parasite feeding off of its power and these things,” Romulus grabbed the sword and shield and they transformed back into an orb and scepter, “Are the spoon and fork feeding you.”

He snapped the scepter in half like a pencil and crushed the orb under his other boot. The once immaculate and beautiful foam was broken like Styrofoam and Hades whimpered feeling the power draining from his body.

Romulus looked at Hades with pity, “It’s not your fault you were made like this. You’re only a personification of doubt and you don’t have anything else to hold you up. I get that you were trying to do what you thought was best but this isn't it. I get that Roman was trying to do what he thought was best by throwing himself into this world but he wasn’t. He was only falling deeper into a hole the others would barely be able to drag him out of. This isn’t what he needs at all. It won’t do anything good. Roman would still be disappointed in himself, Remus would be stuck as the villain, and you’d be stuck with power you can’t fully control.

Romulus removed the boot from Hades’s chest, “Heavy is the head that wears the crown.”

Hades had a few tears run down his face, “I’m going to die aren’t I?”

Romulus smiled kindly, “In a sense, yes. But doubt is not a thing you can fully get rid of. You’ll still be here in presence, but not physically. So yes. You will die.”

“Do you remember what it felt like? Hades asked weakly, “When you split apart from one another and…”died”?”

Romulus sat down next to him and held his hand, “It’s scary, but you’re still there in little ways. You linger around like a ghost. Not fully there but not fully present. I was lucky that I got to linger a bit in Roman and Remus, but even then it’s not like I am them. Right now I’m not even me. The real creativity is gone forever, I’m merely Roman and Remus putting the quote on quote “best” parts together. I’m an amalgamation, not a whole. I’m probably going to unfuse after a while. But yeah, it’s scary and it’s like you’re floating in a void.

Hades watched as his body slowly turned into more smoke, “I’m sorry for this. For everything.”

Romulus gripped his hand tighter, “I forgive you. We’re our own worst enemy sometimes. Now it’s time to go. Promise me, it gets easier once you accept it.”

Hades stared at him for a while before shakily nodding his head and closing his eyes. Then finally the last parts of him turned into smoke and like a flame extinguished he was gone.

Romulus felt a few more tears flow down his face as the weight left his hand but he had little time to process it as he felt a familiar ache in his heart.  _ ‘Shit.’ _ He thought. _ ‘Didn’t he have more time? To be himself? To be together?’ _

Romulus quickly rushed over to the portal, the rocks had disappeared with Hades, and looked into it.

It was right there. 

Thomas’s living room. All he had to do was step in.

So why was he so scared?

The sides were all there as well as Thomas. Virgil seemed to be on the verge of tears and Patton did have tears streaming down his face. Janus and Logan on the outside looked calm but Romulus could recognize the ticks that showed they were just as distressed as Virgil and Patton. And Thomas... oh god Thomas. He looked like a mess and it seemed he was about to go into a full panic.

Romulus gripped his hair. He had really messed up. This entire adventure had taken a very dark turn and it was reflecting onto Thomas. He had never wanted this! He only wanted to do better so he wouldn’t hurt Thomas, but he had failed. Romulus shook his head, no time to dwell on the past. He had to face the music and take a step to fixing what was broken inside of him.

So why wasn’t he moving? 

Romulus took a step back. He wanted to stay. He wanted to stay as the King and stay in the imagination because the real world  **_hurt._ ** The real world hurt and it hurt Roman and Remus and it was all too chaotic. The imagination was a controlled chaos that Romulus could bend to his will, but the real world? The real world had no such leaders. Rules fell and broke apart and were ever changing and never ceased to stop changing. The real world wasn’t here to bring him all fantasies and rainbows and the things that lurked in the sewer and ate you whole. The real world would ride on a rainbow and eat you whole and spit you back out so you had to pick up the broken and chew up pieces of yourself and rearrange them in a way that you could put back together.

But then he saw Janus comfortably put a hand on Virgil’s shoulder as he started to tremble and he realized. He could rearrange himself and let others help with that too because they were also rearranging themselves. They were broken and sad and needed help, too.

“I’m not alone,” He said to himself. And he was right.

He wasn’t alone. He never had been. He just needed to take the first step by reaching out instead of digging back into his downward spiral. 

Romulus smiled and he felt another ache but it didn’t bother him. He had his family to fix what needed to be healed.

And with that boost of reassurance and comfort, Romulus stepped into the portal.


	15. Recipe for Me/Finale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> -  
> There's an ebb and a flow  
> I grow, so I make changes  
> There are rewrites, losses, gains, and rearrangements  
> I'm so much more uncertain than I thought I would be  
> But I can see there's no wrong way to be me  
> Now I see there's no wrong way to be me
> 
> And I know putting this recipe to paper is unwise  
> All of the ingredients are changing all the time  
> I know putting this recipe to paper is unwise  
> All of the ingredients are changing all the time  
> Changing all the time  
> They're changing all the time  
> Changing all the time  
> I'm changing all the time  
> -

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: None so far.

Janus’s relationship with Virgil was strained at best.

When he was a part of the “dark sides” he acted like Remus’s and Janus’s younger brother or son or sorts. When Virgil had panic attacks or couldn’t sleep at night Janus would be there with comforting words, a pat on the back, or a lullaby to lull him right back to sleep.

But then Virgil started to drift away, he began to argue with Remus more often, and then he started hanging around the light sides.

“I’m just infiltrating them or whatever your stupid plan is, it’s not anything personal Jan.” He had insisted but Janus knew better. Virgil knew that Janus could spot lies and he had barely hidden his. 

So when Virgil finally left and got accepted Janus let him go. He had tried to make him stay, pleaded with him, but Virgil wouldn’t listen. He had made up his mind and no amount of pleading or threats were going to make him stay.

And so they grew bitter. Virgil as the man who left behind his family and Janus as the man pretending that the hole in his heart wasn’t there. When they rarely talked to each other the conversation was saturated with passive-aggressiveness and subtle and blatant insults. Whatever relationship they used to have was broken and crushed to pieces the moment Virgil left.

But despite the betrayal, despite the anger, despite the resentments from both sides Janus couldn’t leave Virgil like this.

Upon discovering the room they all had started to lose their composure and immediately went to go see Thomas. Virgil and Patton already weren’t doing so good but when they saw Thomas was when it really hit. Logan had started to explain the situation to Thomas in an uncharacteristically panicked voice, Patton just stared at the spot where Roman once was praying under his breath that he would miraculously appear, and Virgil just sat on the staircase barely holding back tears.

So despite all the tears, and arguments, and questions of ‘Why did you leave me?’ and ‘Why should I have stayed?’ Janus sat next to him and shakily put his hand on Virgil’s shoulder. The pair didn’t say anything to each other. The only sigh of Virgil noticing Janus’s presence was his brief glance Virgil gave him before looking away, but it was enough. Janus didn’t know how they were going to fix this. How the King was supposed to function in their new setup or if he could. But what Janus did know was that the first step was important and this time that first step would be even more important in fixing what had been broken when Roman and Remus left.

“Geez, didn’t know it would be that bad. Sorry for this whole mess.”

All of their heads snapped at the sound of Remus’s voice and there they were. 

But something had clearly changed.

While Remus had stayed the same, although he was looking a little more relaxed, it was Roman that surprised them. His hair had become a stark white with a single streak of brown at the front. An inverted reflection of his brother. He also had tears running his face and his eyes were red like he had been crying for a while. Now that they saw it they both looked like they had been crying. 

Thomas was the first to speak, “Where in the Hell were you guys?”

Remus smiled, “Our therapy session didn’t really go as planned.”

____________________________________________________________________________

Roman was sitting on the couch, a blanket and Patton wrapping him up like a burrito. After Remus’s vague explanation the others had been prodding them answers. Why had he left? Where did he go? Why was Remus with him? What was with the mirror.

And so Roman and Remus answered them. They told them about Hades. Quixote, the pond, the castle, the npcs with smiles too wide, and the King.

Or atleast what they knew about it.

To be honest they really had no idea about what happened when they fused. It was like they fell asleep and then suddenly they were in Thomas’s living room. 

“So you guys can fuse now?” Thomas asked.

Roman grimaced, “Somewhat. We can fuse but we can’t stay as the King forever. Remus and I are too separated and I don't see the King fitting in here. No offense to him.”

Remus sat next to Roman playfully flicking at the grey steak, “Yeah, plus I’m pretty sure if we fuse again Roman’s hair is gonna go full white and that’s not fair to him. He already looks enough like a grandpa.”

Roman punched heatlessly at Remus’s shoulders, “You’re just mad I look better than you with white hair.”

Logan glanced between them before interrupted, “While the hair change is something to take note of, I believe we have more pressing matters to attend to. Roman, what is the mirror and what was its place in this situation?”

Roman dropped the frown before taking a deep breath, “So I’m Thomas ego. One thing about being his ego is that I take what others say about me to heart and this manifest through mirrors. The mirrors reflect things back at me. Compliments on a good one, insults on a bad one, you get the deal. Well, on one of these bad days I got a bit too caught up with what it was saying and I decided to...fix the problem.”

Roman summoned a mirror with a gold bracket, “I created a sort of adventure for myself in the imagination. In order to come back here I had to face my issues head on and deal with them. I gave up a lot of my power to my imagination because I wanted it to be a true test. No magic or anything, just plain skill.”

“But then I showed up!” Remus piped in excitedly.

Roman chuckled quietly, “Yeah he did. And thank Hera he did.”

“Why?” Janus questioned, “A mysterious mirror appears in your brother’s room and you just decide to go in?”

“Yep!” Remus nodded, “I wanted to see what my brother was up to and bother him a bit. Maybe push him into a pit of acid or something. How was I supposed to know it would get so depressing and suddenly Roman and I would be forced to go to therapy?”

Virgil was still confused, “What therapy session takes days to complete?”

“He means we’re going to therapy with that Emile guy,” Roman clarified, “Since we were stuck with each other we came to some realizations. I don’t want to go into it right now.”

“And we respect you for it,” Patton reassured, squeezing Roman tighter, “I’m sorry we didn’t do something to prevent this in the first place kiddos. We should have done better.”

Roman quickly glanced at them before looking at his lap, “Thanks but I’m at fault, too. It seems I also need to learn a lesson in repressing and dealing with my emotions in a healthy way too, Pops. But we’re gonna get there right?”

Patton smiled, “I have a feeling we are.”

____________________________________________________________________________

After a while the sides sunk out to their own rooms. The weight of everything had settled down on all of them and frankly, they all needed a well-deserved break.

Roman was sitting at his vanity. Apparently while he was gone his and Remus’s room fused together but with King Creativity gone they were once again separate.

Roman checked himself out again. The white hair wasn’t bad and did kind of match his outfit, but it would definitely take some getting used to.

“Roman?” He heard Janus say as he knocked on the door, “I want to talk about some things, if you want to.”

Roman stared at the door before answering, “Come right in.”

Janus walked in cane in hand, although it looked less like a symbol of status and more like a comfort object. Roman summoned a chair for him and gestured to him to sit next in it. Janus complied, a bit shocked at the friendliness, and sat down next to him.

Roman twiddled his thumbs before blowing a breath, “I’m sorry about the name-calling. You’re an important part of Thomas, Janus. I shouldn’t have been so antagonistic towards you. You were right about the callback and should have listened to you the first time.”

Janus fiddled with the cane a bit before resting it on his lap, “I forgive you, Roman.” He chuckled, “I also have some things to apologize for. The manipulation in the courtroom and for calling you evil and comparing you to Remus. I didn’t take into consideration how it would affect you. I was being stupid.”

Roman smiled, “Welcome to the club. All of us are stupid and that’s okay.”

Both of them laughed at that and Roman smiled but he noticed Janus staring rather oddly at him. Roman waved a hand in front of his face, “Earth to Janus? Are you in there?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile so genuinely, it’s nice,” Janus said simply like his words weren’t going to be ringing around Roman’s head for days.

Roman blushed, “Thanks Janus.”

Janus smiled before picking up his cane and standing up, “Well I better get going. I’m glad we got that settled.”

Roman smiled back, “Yeah, thanks for coming. I’ll see you around.”

Roman turned back to his mirror but Janus had one last thing to say, “Hey Roman?”

“Yeah?”

“We love you.”

Roman stood there in shock for a moment before clearing his voice, “I know.”

Janus closed the door gently and he went to bed smiling. Finally, Roman wasn’t lying to him or himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is kind of the 1st part of the end (if that makes sense). The next chapter will be the end/epilogue. I'm also on planning on writing some oneshots as kind of companion pieces to this fic. They're just going to be snippets of what happened after this fic and maybe writing some what if? scenarios. Anyways that's all!


	16. Dreamer/Playout

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> -  
> Don't fear little dreamer  
> You'll get there one day  
> And I know that it's scary  
> But you'll succeed  
> Don't fear, little dreamer  
> Let them hear you sing  
> What would you do if I told you  
> That we'll always believe  
> -

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Minor cursing, mentions of blood and violence

“You ready?” Remus asked him with a giddy smile.

Roman looked warily at his brother, “Are you sure this is going to work? Wait a second, did you tell the others-”

Remus rolled his eyes, “Of course I did. Logan was the one who brought up the idea in the first place! Now are you gonna do this or not.”

Roman looked at Remus's outstretched hand and nodded, “It can’t hurt to try.”

A burst of white light was formed as Roman grabbed Remus’s hand and then suddenly King Creativity was there in all his glory.

Romulus stumbled a bit, “I’m here?”

“Roman? Remus? Did it work?” He heard...was that Logan? He sounded so much older!

Romulus opened the door, “Logan!” He swept up the other side in a bear hug and twirled him around, “God we haven’t seen each other since we were kids!”

Logan was flabbergasted, first from the affection and second from the King’s words, “Since we were kids? You two do realize that we just saw each other like fifteen minutes ago right?”

Romulus set him down and beamed again, “Logan I’m not Remus and Roman, well, not exactly. When they form they make me but I’m a separate being. I only get snippets of their memories!”

“Huh, so you’re like a whole new side?” Logan asked.

Romulus shrugged, “I guess so? Nevermind that, do I get to meet Thomas now?”

“It’s probably not the best idea right now. Him, Virgil, Patton, and Janus are having some type of debate right now so I think it's best if we leave them alone for now.”

Romulus rolled his eyes, “Yeah but where’s the fun in that?” Romulus grabbed Logan’s arm, “Now come along my nerdy knight! We have a party to crash!”

Logan sighed but he smiled, “Whatever you say, King.”

____________________________________________________________________________

“We live in a society-”

“Oh my god!” Virgil nearly yelled, “Janus if I hear the word 'society' come out of your mouth again I’m going to slap the shit out of you!”

“Woah woah woah!” Patton interjected, “Lets try to keep this a calm and clear discussion shall we! Violence isn’t the answer!”

Romulus appeared, “I disagree! Violence can be the answer to a lot of things! Rescuing a prince in a tower that’s protected by a dragon? Violence! The guy selling you drugs just upped the price but is giving less product? Violence! It can be used in many ways- Why are you guys staring at me like that?”

Thomas and the other sides only looked at him in shock like he had grown a second head or something. Ooo that gave him an idea. Maybe he/they could be conjoined twins he appeared as the King. 

Romulus snapped out of his ideas when he noticed the others were staring at him and shifted uncomfortably, “Ummm, I like having the spotlight on me and all but can I please get some audience reaction, please?”

Thomas was the first to speak, “Are you a new side?”

“Actually,” Logan said as he rose up, “He’s an old side. Thomas, meet King Creativity.”

Romulus outstretched a hand, “You can also call Romulus or King! It’s so nice to see you again!”

Thomas shakily shook his hand, “So you’re Roman and Remus?”

“Yes and no!” Romulus explained, “I’m your free, not law-abiding, morally ambiguous creativity! I can be the prince of your dreams or the duke of your nightmares! The one rocks the baby to sleep or rocks it straight out of the tree! I’m kind of everything!”

“Yes but what are you doing here?” Virgil asked out of annoyance but mostly fear.

Romulus grabbed at his heart in mock-hurt, “I just wanted to see you guys again! For years I’ve been floating in the void of Roman and Remus’s minds but now I’m physically here! And you look at you all!” Romulus then noticed the absence of one person, “Actually now that I see it, where is-”

Janus shut him up, “Not yet, Romulus. He uh-” He looked at Thomas before looking back at the King, “isn’t ready to be center stage yet.”

Romulus nodded, “Well I guess I’ll see him soon enough.”

Thomas glanced between them, “Umm who is this ‘he’ you’re talking about?”

“Anyways Thomas!” Romulus continued like he didn’t hear Thomas’s question, “How are you doing! You’re creative pursuits treating you well? Are you achieving your dreams? Oh how are your video scripts going?”

Thomas smiled a bit at the King’s childlike wonder, “Uh I was having trouble before with Roman and Remus gone but now I’m doing alright. How about you?”

The King grinned widely, “I’m doing great! God seeing all of you guys so grown up is great! It’s like someone filled my heart up with pop rocks covered with blood and honey!”

“That sounds,” Patton hesitated, “kind of nice?”

“It sure does!” Romulus bounced on his feet, “That’s kind of the line I tread! Not too absorbed in Remus’s gruesomeness but definitely not Roman’s fantasies of wonderland! My mind’s like a pinata filled with eyeballs and sequ-”

Suddenly the King stumbled and Virgil reached out to steady him, “You doing alright bud? What was that?”

Romulus shook his head sadly, “It seems that I’m about to unfuse. Roman and Remus are starting to get a bit antsy since they don’t have a clear vision of what’s happening.” He turned towards the others, “Well it was nice to see you again! Perhaps at a later date we can meet again! Ta ta!”

He unfused and the other sides had to block their eyes from the blinding light. When they opened up their eyes Romulus was gone and the twins were back again.

“I didn’t hear much while I was in the mind-void but I did hear something about violence! If you guys are going to be solving problems by getting into fights I’ll happily provide the weapons!” Remus piped up, summoning his morningstar.

Patton waved his hands in front of him, “No need for violence, we are going to solve this problem without throwing fists or throwing stars!”

Remus booed and Roman lightly punched his arm, “Are you guys okay? You look a bit shaken?” Roman asked Thomas, noticing the slight unease in his form.

“Uh we’re okay-”

“He’s lying,” Janus interjected.

Thomas glared at Janus before continuing, “Okay we’re kind of shaken but otherwise we’re fine! It was great to see the King. He seems like a...cool guy.”

Virgil huffed, “If by cool you mean chaotic? I thought Roman would even out Remus’s more...expressive ideas.”

Roman clasped his hands together, “You shouldn’t think of the King as Remus and I combined. He’s more akin to a new side, it’s why he’s such a loose canon. He’s unbridled creativity and while that can be good in small doses, too much isn’t good. It’s why we can’t allow him to stay for too long.”

Thomas raised an eyebrow, “But aren’t you two loose canons as well?”

“Yeah but not that loose, Thomas. The King is chaotic, even more so than Remus,” Roman clarified, “It’s like you took my whimsicalness and Remus’s...Remusness and cranked it up to a hundred. Plus he can be very distracting.” 

“Distacting?” Thomas asked.

“Yes, he can be very distracting,” Logan answered, “I bet you guys don’t even remember what you guys were arguing about do you? That’s the King’s influence. You get so caught up in what he’s doing that you can forget what you’re doing. You’re figuratively getting trapped by your own fantasies.”

Thomas wondered a bit, “Huh you’re right. I don’t remember what we were talking about.”

Janus tried to recall before giving up, “Well I guess we can just come back to it later, then. I won’t see you guys soon.” He gave a little wave before he sunk out.

“Well I guess I better get going too,” Virgil added and left as well.

“Bye kiddo! Oh Logan can you come with me! I need help with the garden!”

“Of course, Patton,” And they sunk out.

Thomas turned to Roman and Remus who were about to leave, “Hey Roman, can we have a one-on-one? It won’t take long.”

Remus pushed his brother towards, “Well go on Roman, go do your sappy stuff or whatever.”

Roman watched as Remus left before turning back to Thomas, “Is something wrong?”

Thomas clasped his hands nervously, “I should be asking you that. Although, I guess at this point we all know the answer. Roman, you do realize that even if you do make mistakes you’ll still be my hero right?”

“I know but,” Roman collected his thoughts before sitting on the couch, “I had to realize that I’m not always going to be the hero or that I don’t need to be the hero all the time.”

“Pardon?” Thomas said as he sat next to Roman.

Roman sighed, “I’m tired of having to watch everything I say. Truth be told, I’m kind of jealous of Remus. He doesn’t have to be restricted, he’s free to do as he pleases, but for me it’s a completely different set of rules. I have to work so hard just to be the opposite of my brother and-”

“And that’s why when you freaked out when Janus compared you to Remus,” Thomas continued.

Roman nodded, “Yeah, but then I realized something, Thomas. I can’t keep stifling myself. I can’t keep letting you all stifle me. I’m not the perfect prince you guys think I am and you’re not a completely good person. You’re growing up, Thomas, and your ideas need to grow up with you.”

Thomas took in all of this new information. God he was changing wasn’t he? Had he really been stifling his creativity like this for long, “I’m sorry, Roman.”

Roman seemed a bit taken aback before he regained composure, “Don’t be. We both had to make some pretty big realizations, but I promise this will help us, Thomas. It’s going to help you most importantly.”

Thomas smiled, “Thanks Roman, I needed that.”

Roman smiled, “Well I’m glad I could help.” He saluted, “I’ll see you later, Thomas.”

Thomas watched as Roman and he felt a sense of peace. It had been a long time he felt this relaxed, maybe it would last for a while.

Suddenly Janus appeared and scared the Hell of Thomas, “Totally not sorry for scaring you Thomas, but I remembered the issue. Virgil! Patton!”

Thomas sighed. He should have known better. Oh well, it couldn’t hurt to dream about having at least one day of peace with the sides.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this shouldn't taken this long to write fhsafhjdjas  
> Anyways thank you everyone who read this! I never expected to get this kind of response since this fic was mostly me just experimenting with wrting longer things, but I'm so glad you guys liked it! I'll probably put off writing the companions pieces for this for a while just because I don't want this get too burnt out, but this is far from the only thing I plan on writing. Thank you (again) for all the support <3


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